What is a buekorps?

A Buekorps is somewhat similar to the english Boy´s brigades, the difference being that a buekorps is a non-political and non-religious organization. Also, a buekorps is led by the youth themselves without interference from adults, although they are supported by former members who is organized in a veteranorganization. The veterans are called gamlekarer.

There are twelve traditional buekorps for boys in existence today, and they are often divided between søndagskorps (sunday brigades) and lørdagskorps (saturday brigades). Traditionally a søndagskorps had their exercise on sundays since the members had to contribute to the houshold on saturdays. Therefore søndagskorps typically consisted of workingclass boys. A lørdagskorps was for the upperclassboys, which could afford to take the saturday off.

In recent years, buekorps for girls came to existence with Vågens Bataljon (established 1991), Lungegaardens Buekorps (1995) and Løvstakkens Jægerkorps (1999). In the beginning there were much protests from the established traditional buekorps and the public in general, but today they are nearly fully accepted.

The Buekorps origins

As early as the beginning of the 18th century there has been reports about boys marching in the streets, but the first organized buekorps came to existence in the 1850s. The inspiration came from the citys semi-military defence brigade, borgervæpningen, which performed close order drills, amongst other activities.

The main activities during a season has since the beginning been close order drills and sports. Other modern activities like gaming tournaments, cinema going and hooh  is also a part of a buekorps today.

About Sydnæs Bataljon

Sydnæs Bataljon is one of the old traditional buekorps for boys and was established the 7th of june 1863. Traditionally, Sydnæs has been one of the biggest buekorps in Bergen, and we had our prime time during the 1920s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Sydnæs is also famous for having good drummers, which also is supported by the fact that we are the only buekorps who has won the prize for best drummer at Buekorpsenes dag more than two times (we have won it four times).

Buekorpsenes Dag is an event held for all of Bergen`s buekorps every fourth year. It has been arranged since 1970, and during the event it is held a competition for best drummer and best .

Contact

If you have any questions regarding Sydnæs Bataljon or buekorps, we are happy to answer them. It is  also possible to rent Sydnæs for any event. For more information please contact us at Denne e-postadressen er beskyttet mot programmer som samler e-postadresser. Du må aktivere JavaScript for å kunne se adressen .


If you want to read more about buekorps, we recommend visiting Wikipedia.