Who doesn’t know them, year-end wing figures from the Erzgebirge?

Wladimir Kaminer has been researching the cultural space of the three-country broadcaster at 3sat since 2018. With “Kaminer Inside”, probably the most entertaining German-language cultural anthropologist either looks at specific cultural sites such as the recent “Holiday on Ice” and the “Filmstadt Babelsberg” – or, as in his three new films, he asks cross-country and cross-country comparative questions. This time it’s about regional customs. “Kaminer Inside: Customs in Germany” at 8:15 p.m. will be followed on the same evening by the films “Kaminer Inside: Customs in Switzerland” (9 p.m.) and “Kaminer Inside: Customs in Austria” (9:45 p.m.).

Candle arches, incense smokers and Christmas angels represent the traditional art of wood carving in the Ore Mountains. Wladimir Kaminer celebrates Christmas in Annaberg-Buchholz and is introduced to his art by wood turner Jens Breitfeld, which survived the GDR, among other things. A time when Christian figures such as angels were sometimes called “year-end wing figures” as a precaution. Kaminer travels across Germany to attend customs such as the Dirndl Pig Festival in the southern Harz, the world’s largest shooting festival in Neuss, the Dirndldrahn on Lake Chiemsee, the lance jousting of the Husum Ring Riders’ Guild or the devilish Walpurgis Night in Schierke (also Harz).

Russian exile Wladimir Kaminer, who has lived in Berlin for a long time, manages to explore the strange, bizarre and silly of his subjects in his films without making fun of the subject itself or its protagonists. With respect and a wink, the 57-year-old moves on from Germany to the Confederates at 9 p.m. “Kaminer Inside: Customs in Switzerland” focuses, among other things, on the tradition of the Hornussen sport: a competition on an open field whose basic features are reminiscent of American baseball. It’s about “hitting and dismissing”. Some people also somewhat disrespectfully call the tradition from the canton of Bern farmer’s golf. Kaminer makes further visits to Swiss customs at the “Sechseläuten” spring festival in Zurich, a chariot race reminiscent of ancient Rome, the Marché Concours in the canton of Jura and the card game “Jassen” in the canton of Fribourg, which attracts hundreds of thousands of people in front of the television.

Wladimir Kaminer’s new cultural tour ends in Austria between 9:45 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. “Kaminer Inside: Customs in Austria” deals with the Jägerball in the Vienna Hofburg and the enormous importance of traditional costumes in Austria. It’s about the Maypole Crew in the Upper Austrian Mühlviertel, the Krampus cult of the Haller Salt Devils from the Gangerlgraben, the election of a pumpkin mayor in Styria and the nostalgic events of the Imperial Days, which resurrect the time of Emperor Franz Joseph (1830-1916). let. Anyone who watches all three Kaminer documentaries linearly or in the media library will not only be well entertained, but will also be able to confidently answer quiz questions about long-established customs of the 3sat countries in the future.