Martinis singing
Martinisingen is a Protestant custom on Martin's Day , which is mainly cultivated in the Lutheran regions of north-west Germany and north-east Germany on Martin Luther's birthday , November 10th. It is also known under the name Martini or Martinssingen and the Low German names Sünte- or Sünne Märten or Mattenherrn (nowadays often mistakenly corrupted to Matten Mär'n ). During martinis singing on November 10th (similar to the catholic martin singing ), sometimes with lanterns , people go from house to house and sing. Children get sweets for it.
Emergence
Martin Luther was baptized on November 11, 1483 and, as was often the case at the time, was given the name of the saint of the day, Martin of Tours . A diverse and widespread custom developed around the festival of this very popular saint, which also marked the autumn interest day and the beginning of the six-week fast before Christmas , which was continued in Protestant regions after the Reformation .
In order to counterbalance the Roman Catholic cult of St. Nicholas , the custom of St. Martin was emphasized by Protestant rulers and theologians from the 18th century, initially in Württemberg, as it was reminiscent of the birth and baptism days of the reformer Martin Luther. The Martinsult "was not fought in Protestantism for theological reasons in the same way [...] as other Roman Catholic cults of saints", but Protestant modifications of elements of Catholic customs took place.
In the 19th century, the figure of Martin Luther himself moved into the center of Martin's custom. In East Friesland it got a new content after the 300th anniversary of the Reformation in 1817; now only Martin Luther, the “friend of light and the man of faith” was celebrated, “de Pope in Rome de Kroon offschlog”. Martin von Tours songs were rewritten or rededicated to Martin Luther songs, and customs such as walking paths and lantern parades were linked.
In East Friesland, farm workers and service staff used to be released into the winter break on Martinstag. These largely dispossessed strata of the population had to bridge the cold season without their own income. The children who went from house to house on this day made a small contribution to this and, above all, begged for gifts from wealthy farmers and citizens. They received pepper nuts (pēpernöot) and apples. The children carried lanterns ( Kippkappkögels ) and self-made sound instruments ( Rummelpott ) with them.
Usages today
After dusk, children go from door to door with a lantern and sing martini songs. The light in the lantern is often no longer a candle, but electric, as the lanterns sometimes caught fire in the November wind. (In “Lantern, Lantern” it says: “Open the flame, my light, but not my dear lantern.”) But people still like to make the lanterns themselves out of paper. More and more people do without the lantern when singing.
The Hannoversche Wochenblatt writes about Matten Matten Mären : “The iron rule applies in the past as it does today: if you don’t give anything, you’re playing a trick”. Even with the East Frisian-North German martinis singing, the refuser must expect a bell stroke or something similar later in the evening; conversely, if you don't sing, you don't get anything.
Since the end of the 1990s, advertising in stores and American television series have shown Halloween as a competitor to martinis.
Martini songs
Martinus Luther was a ChristianMartinus Luther was a Christian, When Martin was a boyWhen Martin was still a boy , We arrive with the KippkappkögelsWe arrive with the Kippkappkögels. KippKappKögels variant from Harlingerland : We arrived with Kippkappkögels, Mien lüttje LateernMien lüttje Lateern, |
Martin Luther, Martin let's singFrom the Bielefeld / Ravensberger area: Martin Luther, Martin let's sing. As " Heeper Lied" ( Missing dialect): Martin Luther, we sing Martin, Westphalian species: We sing Martin Luther, Martin Luther, we are hereFrom Bösingfeld / Lipperland: Martin Luther, we are here, in More songs
General songs when running the lantern :
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See also
- Sunnerklauslauf (Bremen custom)
- Halloween
- Glowesabend (Klobesabend), Kassel area
- Nicholas of Myra: Customs , an overview of the folklore of St. Nicholas and his companions
literature
- Martin Happ: Old and new pictures of St. Martin. Customs and uses since the 19th century (= Cologne publications on the history of religion. Volume 37). Böhlau Verlag, Cologne-Weimar-Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-412-05706-0 , especially pp. 350–358 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
- Ernst Müller, Griet Voss: De Utrooper's little book by Martini . Utrooper Verlag, Leer 2000, ISBN 3-934370-14-4 ( The small book ).
- Katrin Rodrian (Red.): Fashions and Manners. East Frisia customs, traditions and peculiarities. 2nd Edition. East Frisian Landscape, Aurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-940601-19-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Happ: Old and new pictures of St. Martin. 2006, pp. 349–357, quotation p. 352 ( limited preview in Google book search).
- ↑ fulkum.de: Martinisingen
- ↑ ostfriesland.de: Martini, Martinstag and Sünnermarten , accessed on September 12, 2017.
- ^ East Frisian landscape : Sünner-Martens-Leed , p. 3, accessed on September 12, 2017 (PDF).
- ^ Hannoversches Wochenblatt, November 7, 2007, p. 3
- ↑ Happ: Old and new pictures of St. Martin. 2006, p. 273 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Tobias Widmaier: I go with my lantern (2007). In: Popular and Traditional Songs. Historical-critical song lexicon of the German Folk Song Archive
- ^ Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann : The book of children's songs. Schott, Mainz 2010, ISBN 978-3-254-08370-8 , p. 146.