Do you know in what Texas-immigrant culture ”Kletternpfosten” (Greased Pole Climbing) is a sport and it is customary for brides to wear black wedding dresses to represent the hardship of marriage? September 22, 2019, is the perfect day to find out! Take a drive out to 1011 County Road 212 & FM 2239 to Serbin (five miles southwest of Giddings) and experience the 31st Annual Wendish Fest! Presented by the Texas Wendish Heritage Society and St. Paul Lutheran Church, this event shares the compelling history and heritage of the Wends who came to Texas in 1854.
Things to Do
Make Lace and Go Climb Greased Poles at the Wendish Fest!
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This day of Wendish family fun begins with an English worship service at 8:30 a.m. and a German worship service at 10:30 a.m., then all things Wendish begin, including food, music, folklore, and demonstrations. Events include traditional Easter egg decorating, sauerkraut and noodle making, sausage stuffing, a tractor exhibit, a German market, auctions, a washer pitching contest, and a cross-cut saw competition. Activities for kids include a coloring contest, stick horse races, face painting, and train rides. Noon Meal to be served until 1:30 p.m. Snack booths will open at 2:00 p.m. St. Paul Lutheran Church, a painted church of Texas, and the Texas Wendish Heritage Museum Complex will be open for tours.
Facebook/Miranda Jurk Goehring
Wends is a historical name for Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. The name refers to various peoples, tribes, or groups depending on use. Sorbs, also known by their former autonyms Lusatians and Wends, are a West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting Lusatia, a region divided between Germany and Poland. The Texas Wends or Wends of Texas are a group of people descended from a congregation of Sorbian/Wendish people who emigrated from Lusatia to Texas. After several delays in the journey, the Wends arrived in Houston, then traveled on foot, carrying what they could. They ultimately arrived in present-day Lee County and founded the Low Pin Oak Settlement.
Today, the Texas Wendish Heritage Society has worked to preserve the history and culture of this group with 3000+ artifacts, documents, and original log buildings of the first immigrants. Visit for the festival every fourth Sunday in September or anytime to the Museum Complex during operating hours.
