Mezzotint

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Schabmadonna of the miraculous image of Einsiedeln. Clay, gold leaf and black, red and green dots. 18th century.

As Schabfiguren is known statues of saints , of which believers abschabten material. The dust obtained in this way supposedly had a healing effect and was scattered over food and animal feed. Small representations of the Madonna for this purpose are called Shabemadons.

Pilgrimages

The clay shabbadonns that could be bought at various pilgrimage sites were a smaller copy of the respective miraculous image . The blackened Schabmadons from Altötting (the miniaturization of the local black Madonna ) and those from Einsiedeln , also known as “Laicheibli” by the people, were famous well into the 20th century . The latter were thought to have a special healing effect for people and cattle, as their clay was supposedly mixed with earth and mortar from the Chapel of Mercy as well as relic particles. The figure thrown into a conflagration was supposed to put out the fire. Also of wooden figures chips were planed, the boiled with water and the Sud was drunk as a desirable remedy.

Historical mention

In Greece, the material scraped from the eyes of fresco figures was said to have special healing properties.

In the Middle Ages, scraping off the statue mortar was often punished as a magic practice. From the Innsbruck witch trial it is reported that "dirn Berbel called the sol vil art, and how sy the red of sant Christoffelsbild ashes and something van des tüfel's image to do magic domit". About a South Tyrolean feud from the year 1507, it is said that someone near a statue of St. Christophorus "stuck the painting and gemewr deep with a knife and carried the morter with me". According to a visit report from Val Gardena from 1685, unmarried pregnant women scratched off the image of the devil in a church and took the remnants of the wall with them in order to initiate a miscarriage.

From the wonderful effect of the dust from the tomb of St. Martin reports to Gregor von Tours :

“O you indescribable mixture! unspeakable spice, antidote above all praise! Heavenly laxative, if I may use the expression that puts all medical prescriptions in the shade, surpasses every aroma in sweet fragrance and is stronger than all essences, which cleanses the abdomen like scamonia juice, the lungs like hyssop and the head like bertramwort, but not only restores the ailing limbs, but what is worth much more, cleanses the stains from conscience. "

In the Einsiedler Chronicle of 1739 it is reported that the blind prioress Josepha von Rottenberg from St. Katharinenthal regained her eyesight through a little dust from earthen pictures. Metal shavings were filed off from coins bearing the image of Mary and taken as medicine.

The practice of scraping dust off cult objects and eating them was also known in China and Tibet. Other examples of ritual food are Schluckbildchen , Fraisensteine and so-called Schabsteine of places of worship. It is customary among certain Islamic healers to write verses of the Koran on a blackboard in chalk and then wash them off with water given to the patient to drink.

literature

  • Margarethe Ruff: Magic practices as a way of life. Campus, Frankfurt 2003, ISBN 978-3-593-37380-5 , p. 154.
  • Dominik Wunderlin: Means to Salvation. Religious symbols of blessing and protection in the Dr. Edmund Müller (= treasures from the Dolderhaus in Beromünster, issue 7). Beromünster 2005, ISBN 3-9521775-9-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Urs Bugmann: Magic and true miracles, NLZ Neue Luzerner Zeitung, April 29, 2011 [1]
  2. ↑ Liselotte Hansmann, Lenz Kriss-Rettenbeck : Amulet and talisman. Appearances and history. Callwey, Munich 1966, p. 125. Quoted in Manfred Brauneck : Religiöse Volkskunst. DuMont, Cologne 1979, ISBN 3-7701-0967-8 , p. 275.
  3. ^ Gustav Gugitz: The small devotional picture in the Austrian sanctuaries in representation, distribution and customs, together with an iconography. A contribution to the history of graphics. Brothers Hollinek, Vienna 1950, p. 3. Quoted in Manfred Brauneck: Religiöse Volkskunst. P. 155.
  4. ^ Manfred Brauneck: Religious folk art. P. 298.
  5. ^ Heike Behrend: Photo Magic: Photographs in Practices of Healing and Harming in East Africa. Journal of Religion in Africa 33, 22 (August 2003), pp. 129–145, ISSN  0022-4200 , here p. 139.