Abraham day
The day of Abraham is a name for the 50th birthday .
The background is the incredulous question of the Jews to Jesus Christ : "You are not yet fifty years, and hast Abraham saw?" ( Jn 8,57 EU ). Derived from this is the expression “see Abraham” for “celebrate the 50th birthday”.
The name is (was) widespread mainly in German Upper Silesia and the Ruhr area , but is also known in the Netherlands , where sometimes men are given an "Abraham" or women a "Sarah" as a doll.
In Essen-Werden the custom of “seeing Abraham” has been preserved to this day. The origin is probably the missionary Liudger , who came from a monastery in Utrecht in AD 799 and laid the nucleus for Werden in the Ruhr.
Abraham / Sarah doll
In the Netherlands and some rural border regions in Germany, men traditionally receive an “Abraham” or women a “Sarah” on their 50th birthday, usually from colleagues, friends, clique or family.
In Grafschaft Bentheim , the life-size doll usually recreates scenes from everyday work or the leisure time of the “birthday child”. Often these mannequins are made of fabric filled with straw, some of them also from mannequins.
Web links
- Folk culture and traditions in the Netherlands on NiederlandeNet from the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster