Thanksgiving Festival "Mahlzeit!" at Museumsdorf Cloppenburg 2026

"Mahlzeit!" – Thanksgiving as a Hands-On Experience

The Thanksgiving Festival at Museumsdorf Cloppenburg bears the charming name "Mahlzeit!" – an allusion to the rural table and eating culture that is the focus of the day. Instead of an abstract ceremony, Thanksgiving here is made tangibly experienceable: Who was involved in the harvest in the past? How was threshing done? How did grain become flour, and flour become bread? These questions are answered in the historical ambiance of the open-air museum – not through lectures, but through demonstrations.

Historical Harvesting Equipment and Threshing Train

The visual and auditory highlight is the threshing train: Historical agricultural machinery is demonstrated in action, from the binder to the threshing machine to horse-drawn carts. Anyone who has heard the thundering sound of an old portable steam engine threshing machine once will not forget it. In addition, historical harvesting equipment is exhibited and partly available for touching – an experience especially for children.

Weekly Market, Seed Exchange, and Potato Bonfire

Complementing the Thanksgiving demonstrations, other program points enrich the day:

• Weekly market with regional products – bread, honey, cheese, sausage, vegetables, fruit
• Seed exchange – hobby gardeners and farmers exchange old varieties
• Potato bonfire – potatoes in hot embers, a simple and beautiful Thanksgiving ritual

Living Crafts in the Museum Village

Living crafts are showcased at various stations, many with a direct connection to the harvest year: weaving room (processing flax and wool), spinning room, bakery (bread from the historical oven), pottery. These crafts were essential for rural self-sufficiency – today they are precious cultural testimonies that are still demonstrated in a living form in only a few places in Germany.