Andrew prayer

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The Andreas prayer is primarily in Austria known folk custom.

An Andrew prayer is a prayer, or rather a kind of "marriage oracle" that takes place on St. Andrew's night , i.e. H. the night of November 30th, the anniversary of the death of St. Andreas († around 60), is spoken. The same custom can be found in some places in relation to the Thomas Night , i.e. H. the night of December 21st.

Originally, these customs can be related to Freyr , the old Germanic god of love and marriage. Popular belief says that a virgin who says this prayer will reveal herself to her future lover, for example by looking into a fire or a mirror. St. Andrew's prayer is accompanied by all sorts of customs, such as eating rolls in three bites, setting a table for the fictitious future, collecting certain branches and moving children from house to house. In some places, on the night before St. Andrea's Day, girls hope to dream of their future husband, but without fasting, as before the day of Anniversary, but by drinking wine and praying in complete nakedness and using a straw mattress (as a symbol for the Wedding camp) or sweep their room with a new broom and recite the following text, for example:

Holy Andreas, I ask you,
bedstead, I'll kick you,
let
the dearest of my hearts appear to me!

A slightly longer version is the following:

Andrew, holy patron saint,
just give me a man

and let me see him in the picture,
whether he is ugly or beautiful,

whether he is spiritual or worldly,
whether he is young or elderly,

whether it's a Junker, proud and free,
whether he's poor, but pious about it.

St. Andreas show me
whether and what I can hope for.

St. Andreas, I beg you!
Think of me this year!

The text of St. Andrew's prayer, however, often has a slightly sinister undertone, as in this example:

Andresgen, man, best friend,
you loyal maiden teacher,
here I stand stark naked !
When will the hour come
that someone will take me
and crack my bridal bed?

literature

  • Ernest Borneman (1971), The Obscene Vocabulary of Germans , Cologne, New Edition 2003, Section 50.1
  • Reinhard Rinnerthaler (2001), “O God, who will help me? Holy advocate for love stories, helpers of the sick and professional patrons. ”Verlag St. Peter ISBN 3-900173-67-2