Flax board

• Lobbe/Mönchgut, wood with sailing boat motif and house mark,
  around 1880;
  height: 44 cm

The flax board is used to beat the pieces of stem residue off the dried and cracked flax. Women were in charge of processing the flax.

On both sides of the flax board there is a yardarm schooner, a two-master with yardarm sails. A broad ribbon of six-pointed stars is carved below. The Mönchgut house mark is clearly visible on the handle. House marks indicate which family owned a particular utensil. This house mark proves that the flax board belongs to the Looks family from Lobbe. This family has strong roots in the region; the Mönchgut family chronicle by the teacher Willy Dumrath traces it back to 1574.

A courting gentleman on the Mönchgut peninsula would frequently give his future wife a flax board on the Mönchgut peninsula as a symbol of his devotion.

The men and boys would make the flax boards for their betrothed. Each board is a unique piece, artistically decorated with ornaments, hearts and grooves. Many of the gifts exchanged during courtship have maritime motifs. The recesses in the wood are coated in grey and red wax.