Christening gown

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Baptismal gown, Sweden 1828 ( Livrustkammaren )

As a christening gown , Taufgewand or Wester shirt usually white garments are called, which baptized with the baptism attract. The Bible verse Gal 3:27  LUT is often given as a reason for this.

The custom of handing over or putting on a dress to the newly baptized arose in late antiquity against the background of full-body baptism, usually by adults, which was associated with changing clothes. In the Middle Ages and up to the 16th century, newborns were baptized, stripped of their clothes, completely doused with water or submerged in water, dried, anointed with chrism , dressed in a vest and wrapped up warm again. In the early modern period, the baptismal gift gained importance. With it the baby was nicely prepared for the way to the baptism at home. Around 1800, the extra-long white christening gowns closed at the back appeared, which are still used today.

The white christening gown of late antiquity

In the New Testament , receiving a white robe is a symbol of belonging to Jesus Christ ( Rev 3: 4–5  LUT ). In the visual language of the Revelation of John it is the mark of the Christians who suffered death for their faith ( Rev 6,9–11  LUT , Rev 7,9-14  LUT ).

It has been documented since the fourth century that those baptized on Easter Vigil put on a white dress after they got out of the pool. They wore it in the Easter week until the following White Sunday ( Latin Dominica in albis , Sunday in white [robes] ”). There was also a forehead bandage (velamen mysticum) , which protected the chrism that was applied at the baptism . The special clothing made it visible from the outside that these days were something special in the life of the newly baptized, because during Easter week ( hebdomada in albis , “week in white robes”) the bishop gave them daily instruction on central issues of faith. Here came Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem , specifically to talk about the clothes of his listeners. He interpreted the Bible verse Koh 9,8  LUT in such a way that as Christians you should always wear white robes in a figurative sense.

Orthodox baptismal clothing

Olga of Kiev in her christening gown. The subject of Sergei Kirillov's painting (1993) is a 10th century baptism.

In the Orthodox Churches, the tradition of full-body baptism has been continued up to the present day. In the Byzantine rite , immediately after leaving the baptismal font, the baptized person receives the white baptismal robe as the “robe of righteousness” and the troparion is sung: “Give me a light robe, you who are surrounded by light like a robe, Christ , full of compassion, our God. ”This garment is brought by the family to the baptism and given to the minister before the service begins. Today's baptisms can also be a plain white t-shirt with no print. Adult baptized persons are clothed with an alb .

In the Chaldean rite, the baptized does not put on a baptismal gown, but rather his usual clothes. In the other rites, confirmation follows first , then clothing. These rites also provide that the person who is confirmed is crowned with a "headband in the form of a more or less adorned crown".

Catholic and Protestant baptismal clothing

Heinrich Bullinger's Westerhemd, Switzerland around 1490 (Zurich Central Library)

Even in the early Middle Ages, Easter was the classic baptism date. Notker Balbulus gives details of baptismal clothing at the time. He writes that some Normans deliberately visited the court of Louis the Pious before Easter , expressed interest in the baptism, received it without much preparation and then went away as newly baptized with a white linen robe and sponsor gifts - in order to repeat this action at the following Easter celebrations . When around fifty candidates for baptism appeared on Holy Saturday , the court was not prepared for it. In a hurry, coarse shirt material ( camisilia ) was sewn for baptism robes . One of the baptized people who was dressed in this way protested that he had always been given the best, very white christening clothes and not a sack that a swineherd was entitled to.

Image sources on baptismal robes from the Middle Ages are rare. The Hortus Deliciarum (12th century, only tracing) shows adult baptized people who wear waist-length white shirts, the hoods of which are decorated with large crosses.

Vest shirt

In the late Middle Ages, the infant's baptismal gown and headband grew into a single piece of clothing in the form of a small hooded cloak (cappa) . A separate headgear (cap, hood) was also in use.

The name of the christening gown as a vest is a tautology (Latin vestis "dress"). It is Martin Luther's term in his little baptismal book. The Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli also provided for wearing a white robe after baptism in his baptismal ordinances of 1525. The Zurich Central Library owns a western shirt made around 1490 and thus a very old example of this type of textile (photo). It is an open-front, unbleached, natural-colored linen shirt, 43.5 cm long without a hood and 54 cm with a hood. The width at the shoulder edge is 37 cm, at the lower edge 71.5 cm.

Independently of the Reformation, but at the same time, the baptism of infants by immersion was replaced by baptism by pouring over them. The development went on to baptism by simply sprinkling (aspersion) the head:

Johannes Bugenhagen , the reformer of Northern Germany, was himself godfather to a baptism in Hamburg in 1529. He was astonished to see that the child was baptized in his clothes, the pastor just putting some water on his head. This "head baptism" had become naturalized in Hamburg. Bugenhagen agreed on a common position with the Hamburg pastors: the baptism of aspersion is valid, but not the ideal form. The Hamburg Church Ordinance regulated that the children should be unwrapped and only wrapped in blankets and brought to the baptismal font. At baptism, water should be poured over the head and back, which is the common form. “Then the priest put the cap on the child and put the vest on his body when it is there (the women will probably wear it for him in church or in the house) ... and quickly put the child back in the warm blanket . ”Pastors should also promote this type of baptism in their sermons. But if a family brings a baby to the baptismal font in his textiles, the pastor should respect the parents' wish for a “head baptism”.

The baptism of aspersion was generally accepted in the Protestant area, despite church ordinances to the contrary. This affected the baptismal device (small, flat baptismal bowls) and the baptismal clothing: the baby remained dressed, only the hat was removed. There are various indications that the hooded cloak was associated with the baptism of unclothed infants and became unusable as soon as there was no changing. The Hamburg Church Ordinance recommended the vest as a sign that the baptized had "become pure and white", "although such a shirt is not necessary."

Christening gift, Kassel cloth

The clothing of the baptized became part of a general trend in the following centuries: items of clothing associated with luxury migrated across social boundaries and were used in new social and cultural contexts, although dress codes sought to prevent this. In 1657 and 1677, for example, the city of Magdeburg prohibited “gold and silver, as well as white and silk bobbin lace and braids” on sheets, blankets and christening robes. The baptism of aspersion was a prerequisite for the infant to be lavishly prepared and presented in the church before going to church. Midwives reacted indignantly when the silk baptismal outfit they had given got wet, and in 1796 they were reminded that the act of baptism was more important than “the preservation of a completely useless and unreasonable ornament”.

Four parts of a christening set from Jutland ( Nordiska Museet , acquired 1877):

  • Daabsdräkt - Nordiska museet - NM.0019886A.jpg
  • Daabsdräkt - Nordiska museet - NM.0019886B.jpg
  • Daabsdräkt - Nordiska museet - NM.0019886C.jpg
  • Daabsdräkt - Nordiska museet - NM.0019886F.jpg

In the 18th and 19th centuries, both parishes and midwives kept christening items ( Kasseltüch in Low German ) ready to borrow. Here are some examples from text sources and museum holdings:

  • During a break-in in the pastorate of the village of Deinsen in 1752, the thieves captured, among other things, "a white cane-framed baptism set with lace, 1 small boy and 1 small girl's hat embroidered."
  • From Travemünde there is a baptismal outfit dated 1766 ( St. Anne's Museum Lübeck): a three-part cover and a baptismal cap, all made of red velvet, decorated with gold thread and silk, a gold braid, velvet tassels, silver balls and gold-plated medallions. This throw, handcrafted by the pastor's wife, was placed on the baby and could be closed at the back with ribbons and eyelets.
  • The Kassel cloth from the late 18th century, which is preserved in Flensburg ( Museumsberg ), has the shape of a simple, 90 cm long skirt made of taffeta and silk, lined with wool parchment that could be closed with ribbons at the back. The lower hem is set with silver lace and the front of the garment is striped yellow and white and decorated with woven flowers.
  • In Rendsburg , the organist of the Marienkirche loaned four sets of baptismal items to baptized families at different rates in 1786. This was a source of income for him, and those who brought their child to the baptism with their own equipment had to pay the organist a fee.
  • In 1843, the Economic Encyclopedia stated that midwives loaned christening items to poor families. It was given back as soon as I returned from church. "Midwives always wear several of the same suits, one of which is always finer than the other, in order to make a selection according to the parents' class, according to their more or less means."

An example from the Lüneburg Heath shows how Kasseltüch was used in the 19th century: First, the christening robe was borrowed from the pastorate. Then the child was swaddled, the christening robe put on over it, and a silk scarf pinned across it. A colorful baptism cap (moppe) came on the head. A dent was made in the large pillow, which was later to become the cradle blanket, the child was placed in it, the pillow was tied with an apron, and a cloth was wrapped around everything. So the midwife carried it to church.

Christening gown

Baptism in Skagen Church ( Michael Ancher , 1880s)

Around 1800, the christening gowns, which are still in use in some families today, are also reminiscent of the fashion of the Empire and early Biedermeier : girls and boys wore extra-long white robes with a short top, at least one outer dress, often an additional undergarment, plus a separate one Hat. Were used like cotton batiste , cotton tulle or silk. The symbolic color white , which has since been forgotten, was taken up again - in the wake of a general interest in antiquity. These christening gowns were often passed down as heirlooms in the family, preserving the early 19th century gown design for later decades. “The names of the baptized children may be embroidered. The material can be the bridal veil . It may be that it was taken away from the war because it was easy to transport. ”Women's magazines contained patterns for christening gowns, and department stores later offered them in their catalogs. In the GDR, for example, VEB Modische Weißwaren Auerbach produced white "first-time party dresses."

Putting on the baptismal robe as part of the rite

The Roman pre-conciliar ritual no longer mentioned the baptismal gown, but only the chrismale , a cloth that was placed on the baptized person's head. This shawl is in the tradition of the late antique headband. Only the rituals (1973), renewed after the Second Vatican Council , included putting on the baptismal gown among the interpretive rites of the act of baptism. They wanted the baptized family to bring their own christening robe for the celebration, but not put it on for the person to be baptized before going to the baptism. In practice, however, the celebrant often simply placed the christening gown on the child or made a gesture to indicate the gown that the child had been dressed in before the baptism. In the second authentic edition from 2007, a more precise definition took place. In the rubrics there is no longer talk of the “presentation of the white dress”, but rather of “clothing with the white baptismal robe”.

In the Protestant regional churches, dressing is a way of organizing the celebration and is not binding: "Where a baptismal gown / vest shirt is in use, the baptized person is given or put on the baptismal gown, depending on the local custom [...]" At the baptism Young people during the confirmation time have the opportunity to present three symbolic gifts: the burning baptismal candle, the baptismal cross (cape cross) and the baptismal robe (T-shirt). To make it easier for the newly baptized to really dress, a baptismal scarf is also a good choice .

Baptist baptismal clothing

Baptism in a river, North Carolina around 1900

If young people or adults are baptized by immersion, practical questions arise with regard to the clothes in which the baptized persons enter the water. In today's Orthodox baptisms, for example, underwear or bathing suits are worn, items of clothing without liturgical meaning, in contrast to the "light robe", which is only put on after the baptism.

How Baptists were dressed in the 18th century is exemplified by the description of a baptism in Whittlesford ( Cambridgeshire ) in 1767: Men wore their everyday clothes and instead of a coat over it a long white robe made of friezes (baize gown) with a band of worsted yarn around them Was tied at the hips and weighted with lead in the hem, plus a white linen cap. Women wore their usual clothes, but in white, the material was Dutch cloth or twill cotton (Holland or dimitty) . The outer garments were pinned to the stockings with a few stitches and the hem was weighed down.

Sewing suitable clothes and headgear for baptism in rivers has been documented by folklorists as a living African American tradition in Louisiana . For example, the christening gown of the seamstress Lucille Stewart (one of which is owned by the Louisiana State Museum, Baton Rouge ) has two ribbons made of the same material as the dress. One was worn as a belt, the other went below the knees and prevented the dress from lifting in the water and interfering with the person being baptized. They were long-sleeved robes that reached to the ankles and were pulled over the head. Stewart made a separate robe for each person to be baptized. The color white established a connection for them to the Lord's Supper, during which white clothing was also worn.

In the early 20th century, formal attire was important in British Baptist churches in worship and then also in baptism, which changed in the decades that followed. Many congregations held special white robes that were weighted at the hem for women. It was customary for men to wear cloth trousers and a tennis shirt. By the 1960s at the latest, under the influence of the charismatic movement , the trend towards casual clothing began. In the opinion of Anthony R. Cross, it was characteristic that the clothes of the person to be baptized were hardly considered in terms of their symbolism (white as a symbol of purity and new life), but rather under practical aspects in Baptist British literature of the 20th century.

In 2017, the question of baptismal clothing was controversial in the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches . The traditional gown-like white christening gowns were felt to be out of date in many communities. However, the fact that in some parishes the baptized wore black T-shirts met with criticism. The working group Mission and Congregation Development of the Baptists in Lower Saxony suggested taking up an impulse from early Christian practice: those baptized on Easter vigil wore their white baptismal robes for the entire following week. Mission officer Jürgen Tischler advocated white baptism T-shirts with a suitable print; these are "an encouragement for congregations and those baptized to confess to Christ in this way also in everyday life."

Web links

Commons : Christening Gown  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Christening robe  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

literature

  • Tove Engelhardt Mathiassen: Luxurious Textiles in Danish Christening Garments: Fashionable Encounters across social and geographical borders. In: Tove Engelhardt Mathiassen et al. (Ed.): Fashionable Encounters: Perspectives and trends in textile and dress in the Early Modern Nordic World. Oxbow Books, Oxford / Philadelphia 2014. ISBN 978-1-78297-382-9 . Pp. 183-200.
  • Andreas Schmid: The christening gown. In: Journal for Christian Art No. 8 (1908), Col. 251-254. ( online )
  • Monika Selle: Christening gown . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 9 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2000, Sp. 1302 .
  • Bettina Seyderhelm: The clothing of the baptized . In: Bettina Seyderhelm (Ed.): A thousand years of baptisms in Central Germany. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2006, ISBN 978-3-7954-1893-9 , pp. 208-221.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ambrose of Milan: On the Mysteries, VII, 34. In: Library of the Church Fathers. Retrieved January 8, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Monika Selle: Christening robe . In: LThK . 3. Edition. tape 9 , 2000, col. 1302 .
  3. ↑ Cyril of Jerusalem: Mystagogical Catechesis to the Newly Baptized IV, 8. Retrieved January 14, 2019 .
  4. ^ A b Irénée-Henri Dalmais: The Liturgy of the Eastern Churches . In: Johannes Hirschmann (ed.): The Christian in the world, series IX: The liturgy of the church . 2nd Edition. tape 5 . Aschaffenburg 1963, p. 62 .
  5. ↑ What is necessary for baptism ... (spiritual and practical handout). In: Cathedral of St. New martyrs and confessors of Russia in Munich. Retrieved January 3, 2019 .
  6. ^ Irénée-Henri Dalmais: The liturgy of the Eastern Churches . 2nd Edition. Aschaffenburg 1963, p. 64 .
  7. ↑ Hans-Werner Goetz: The perception of other religions and Christian-occidental self-image in the early and high Middle Ages (5th-12th centuries) . tape 1 . Akademie Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-05-005937-2 , pp. 56 .
  8. ↑ Bettina Seyderhelm: The clothing of the baptized . Regensburg 2006, p. 209 .
  9. ↑ Bettina Seyderhelm: The clothing of the baptized . Regensburg 2006, p. 210 .
  10. ↑ Albrecht Peters: Confession, home table, grape booklet, baptismal booklet . In: Commentary on Luther's Catechisms . tape 5 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1994, ISBN 3-525-56184-9 , pp. 161 .
  11. ↑ Bettina Seyderhelm: The clothing of the baptized . Regensburg 2006, p. 210-211 .
  12. ^ August Jilek: Baptism . In: Hans-Christoph Schmidt-Lauber et al. (Ed.): Handbook of the liturgy: liturgical science in theology and practice of the church . 3. Edition. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003, ISBN 3-525-57210-7 , pp. 298 .
  13. ^ Heinrich Bullinger's shirt. In: Zurich Central Library. Retrieved October 17, 2018 (The vest shirt was made for the oldest child of the Bullinger couple and was then worn by all the children of the family at the christening. Heinrich Bullinger was the youngest son. It was later owned by Josias Simler, a godchild of the Reformer , and was passed on through several generations in the Simler family, donated to the Zurich City Library by Anna Elisabetha Simler in 1816.).
  14. ↑ Bettina Seyderhelm: The clothing of the baptized . Regensburg 2006, p. 212 .
  15. ^ Johannes Bugenhagen: Hamburg Church Order . Ed .: Carl Mönckeberg. Hamburg 1861, p. 49-50 .
  16. ↑ Peter Cornehl: On the history of evangelical baptism . In: Bettina Seyderhelm (Ed.): A thousand years of baptisms in Central Germany . Regensburg 2006, p. 85 .
  17. ↑ Bettina Seyderhelm: The clothing of the baptized . Regensburg 2006, p. 213 .
  18. ^ Johannes Bugenhagen: Hamburg Church Order . Ed .: Carl Mönckeberg. Hamburg 1861, p. 48 .
  19. ^ Tove Engelhardt Mathiassen: Luxurious Textiles in Danish Christening Garments: Fashionable Encounters across social and geographical borders . Oxford / Philadelphia 2014, p. 183 .
  20. ↑ Bettina Seyderhelm: The clothing of the baptized . S. 213 .
  21. ^ Tove Engelhardt Mathiassen: Luxurious Textiles in Danish Christening Garments: Fashionable Encounters across social and geographical borders . Oxford / Philadelphia 2014, p. 186 .
  22. ^ Friedrich Benjamin Osiander: Textbook of midwifery art . Göttingen 1796, p. 656 .
  23. ^ Hanoverian learned advertisements . No. 68 , August 25, 1752.
  24. ↑ a b Bettina Seyderhelm: The clothing of the baptized . Regensburg 2006, p. 215 .
  25. ↑ Kassel cloth. In: museums north. Retrieved January 7, 2018 .
  26. ↑ Baptism . In: Johann Georg Krünitz (Ed.): Economic Encyclopedia . tape 181 . Berlin 1843, p. 202 .
  27. ^ Eduard Kück: The old peasant life of the Lüneburg Heath. Studies in Lower Saxony folklore, in conjunction with the German Association for Rural Welfare & Home Care . Leipzig 1906, p. 3 .
  28. ↑ Bettina Seyderhelm: The clothing of the baptized . S. 216 .
  29. ↑ Peter Barz, Bernd Schlüter (Ed.): Workbook baptism . 2nd Edition. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2011, ISBN 978-3-579-05915-0 , p. 97 .
  30. ↑ Bettina Seyderhelm: The clothing of the baptized . Regensburg 2006, p. 218 .
  31. ↑ Monika Selle: Christening robe . In: LThK . 3. Edition. tape 9 , 2000, col. 1302 .
  32. ^ Adolf Adam : Grundriß liturgie . St. Benno, Leipzig 1989, ISBN 3-7462-0404-6 , p. 118 .
  33. ↑ a b Bettina Kaul: Baptism pastoral - between church tradition and human experience. Pastoral theological and liturgical studies . In: Ottmar Fuchs et al. (Ed.): Tübingen perspectives on pastoral theology and religious education . tape 39 . LIT Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-643-10965-1 , pp. 177 .
  34. ↑ Church office of the EKD and divine service presentations of the VELKD and the UEK (ed.): The baptism. Draft for testing . Hanover 2018, p. 51.192 .
  35. ^ Frank C. Senn: Embodied Liturgy: Lessons in Christian Ritual . Fortress Press, Minneapolis 2016, ISBN 978-1-4514-9627-7 , pp. 67 .
  36. ^ Bryan D. Spinks: Reformation and Modern Rituals and Theologies of Baptism. From Luther to Contemporary Practices . Ashgate, 2006, ISBN 0-7546-5696-9 , pp. 97 .
  37. ↑ Susan Roach: Lucille Stewart: Making Baptismal Gowns. In: Folklife in Louisiana. Retrieved January 4, 2019 .
  38. ^ Anthony R. Cross: Baptism and the Baptists: Theology and Practice in Twentieth-Century Britain . Eugene 2017, ISBN 978-1-5326-1706-5 , pp. 399-400 .
  39. ↑ What will the future Baptist wear when he is baptized? In: idea. May 31, 2017, accessed January 5, 2019 .