Barbara wheat

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Croatian Christmas wheat ( Božićna pšenica )

Barbara wheat or Lucia- or Lucy wheat , even Christmas wheat or Christmas cereal is a adventlicher custom called, in which most of the St. Barbara (December 4) or Lucia Day (December 13) a Tellersaat of grain is created. This seed, which usually sprouts from wheat or barley, is one of the origins of the Christmas tree and is still a custom today among Catholics , especially in Austria , Hungary , Slovenia , Croatia and southern France . In Germany it was particularly widespread among the formerly predominantly Catholic population of the Rhineland . This custom of the fruit that germinates in winter symbolizes the great importance of grain as a breadfruit and stands in Christian symbolism for Jesus Christ himself. In addition, the flourishing growth of the seed serves as an oracle about the yield of the field crops and the course of the coming year.

Custom

The sowing date is important, because the warm climatic conditions cause the grain to grow too quickly and it will no longer have any strength at Christmas. If it grows too slowly, the seeds will not have sprouted sufficiently by Christmas. Therefore, depending on the climate of the sowing place, either the Barbara or Lucia day is selected as the sowing date. So on December 4th, the memorial day of St. Barbara or on December 13th, the memorial day of St. Lucia, the grains of grain are sprinkled on a flat plate, in a bowl or a similar vessel. Cotton or earth can also serve as a substrate. You pour water over the whole thing, put it in a sheltered, warm place and keep it moist. Until Christmas the seed should be merged and form a dense green bush. On Christmas Eve , the seed on the plates is provided with a candle or three candles as a reference to Jesus Christ or the Trinity and placed on the dining table. In Croatia traditionally the feast on Christmas Eve does not take place until after midnight mass. Before eating, there is prayer and sometimes Christmas carols are sung. After the prayer, one or the three burning candles are extinguished with bread that was previously dipped in wine .

origin

Probably the origin of the custom lies in the ancient cult around the god Adonis , in Greek mythology the god of beauty and vegetation . The practice of the dish-sowing appears to have been recorded throughout the Mediterranean region , including ancient Egypt and the Middle East . Cultic "Adonis gardens" placed in potsherds or plates stood for eternal growth and decay and thus conjured up the immortality of the slain Adonis. In order to combat the widespread cult of Adonis, the Christian church presumably replaced the person of Adonis with John the Baptist , while maintaining external customs. So are direct counterparts of the Christmas barbara or Lucia wheat, the "Nenneri" carried around in parades in Sardinia at the summer solstice on St. John's Festival. From the Mediterranean region the custom of the plate seed spread to Central Europe and is also found in the Christmas tradition.

literature

  • Leopold Schmidt: Barbara and Lucia wheat: The spread of the Christmas plate seeds in Burgenland . In: Culture and People. Contributions to folklore from Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland (=  volume 5 of the publications of the Austrian Museum for Folklore ). 1954, p. 387 .
  • Helene Grünn: Barbara wheat among the Danube Swabians . In: Austrian magazine for folklore . tape 59 . Vienna 1956, p. 36-42 .
  • Niko Kuret: The Adonis Gardens of Slovenia . In: Walter Sepp, Hanns Koren, Leopold Kretzenbacher (eds.): Folklore in the Eastern Alps: Lectures at the II International Workshop of the Free Working Group on Eastern Alpine Folklore in Graz, May 1959 . Self-published by the Styrian Folklore Museum, 1961, p. 49 ff .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tomislav Ladan: Osmojezični enciklopedijski rječnik: Prija-R . In: Volume 6 by Osmojezični enciklopedijski rječnik: hrvatski ili srpski, ruski, engleski, njemački, francuski, talijanski, španjolski, latinski . Leksikografski zavod "Miroslav Krleža", 1987, ISBN 978-953-268-002-7 , p. 366 ( online ).
  2. ↑ Susanne Böttcher (ed.): Michelin - The green travel guide: Provence . 2006, ISBN 978-3-8342-8998-8 ( online ).
  3. ^ Journal of Romance Philology . M. Niemeyer, 1931, p. 30 ( online ).
  4. ↑ Niko Kuret: The Adonisgärtlein Slovenia . In: Walter Sepp, Hanns Koren, Leopold Kretzenbacher (eds.): Folklore in the Eastern Alps: Lectures at the II International Workshop of the Free Working Group on Eastern Alpine Folklore in Graz, May 1959 . Self-published by the Styrian Folklore Museum, 1961, p. 53 ( online ).
  5. ^ Günter Wiegelmann, Mathias Zender, Gerhard Heilfurth: Folklore: An introduction (=  Volume 12 of the basics of German studies ). Erich Schmidt Verlag, 1977, p. 146 ( online ).
  6. ↑ Rheinisches Jahrbuch für Volkskunde . Vol. 17-18. F. Dümmler, 1967, p. 202 ( online ).
  7. ^ Leopold Kretzenbacher: Santa Lucia and the Lutzelfrau: Popular belief and high religion in the area of ​​tension between Central and Southeastern Europe (=  Volume 53 of Southeastern European works ). R. Oldenbourg, 1959, ISSN  0933-6850 , p. 113 ( online ).
  8. ↑ Moritz Oriole: Halali . tape 2 , 2010, ISBN 978-3-938647-18-9 , pp. 453 ( online ).
  9. ^ Friedrich Zarncke, Eduard Zarncke, Wilhelm Frels : Literarisches Centralblatt für Deutschland . E. Avenarius, 1903, p. 579 ( online ).
  10. ↑ Richard Wünsch: The Spring Festival of the Island of Malta: A Contribution to the History of Ancient Religion . BG Teubner, 1902, p. 53 ( online ).
  11. ^ Association for Folklore in Vienna (ed.): Austrian Journal for Folklore . tape 30 . Austrian Federal Publishing House for Education, Science and Art, 1976, p. 101 ( online ).
  12. ↑ Hamburg Museum of Ethnology and Prehistory (Ed.): Guide to Ethnology . No. 32-33 , 1985, pp. 135 ( online ).