Dead Sunday

The Sunday of the Dead or Sunday of Eternity is a day of remembrance for the deceased in the Protestant churches in Germany and Switzerland. It is the last Sunday before the first Sunday in Advent and thus the last Sunday of the church year . Due to the fixed position of the fourth Sunday in Advent before December 25th, it can only fall on dates between November 20th and 26th.

Since the development of the church year in the Middle Ages, liturgical readings on the last things were connected to the last Sundays of the church year . While on the third last Sunday the focus is on “death”, the penultimate Sunday has “ (Last Judgment ”) and the last “ Eternal Life ”.

Traditionally, the last Sunday of the church year focuses in a special way on the expectation of Judgment Day . The Sunday Gospel includes the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25). It forms the basis for the weekly song, the chorale by Philipp Nicolai Wachet, the voice calls us ( EG  147) and the Bach cantata of the same name ( BWV 140 ) based on it.

Origin of the Sunday of the Dead

King Friedrich Wilhelm III. of Prussia determined by cabinet order of April 24th and ordinance of November 25th, 1816 for the Protestant Church in the Prussian regions on the last Sunday of the church year, the last Sunday before the 1st Advent, for the "general church festival in memory of the deceased" . The following reasons come into question: the commemoration of the many who died in the Wars of Liberation from 1813 to 1815, the mourning for Queen Luise who died in 1810 , also the lack of commemoration in the Protestant church year and the wave of sensitivity was certainly beneficial in the age of romanticism, which brought the memory of the deceased increasingly into fashion. The other regional Protestant churches adopted this provision.

State protection

Visit to the grave on Sunday of the Dead at the Berlin-Baumschulenweg cemetery in (East) Berlin 1961

Decorated turf urn field with visitors on Dead Sunday in a cemetery (2011)

Freiburg Christmas market closed on Eternity Sunday 2019

The Sunday of the Dead is particularly protected in all German federal states. The holiday laws of all federal states determine the Sunday of the dead as a day of mourning and remembrance or as a so-called silent day , for which special restrictions apply; this includes, for example, bans on music performances in restaurants, sometimes limited to certain hours on the Sunday of the dead. The Hamburg law on Sundays, public holidays, days of remembrance and days of mourning empowers the Hamburg Senate to “declare (...) days to be other days of remembrance or mourning by ordinance”, which was done by the Hamburg Holiday Protection Ordinance of February 15, 1957.

Todays situation

The Lutheran and Union agendas of the 1950s tried to regain the eschatological character of Sunday in the context of the younger liturgical movement . Therefore, the name is Totensonntag not here, but it is only from the last Sunday of the church year / Eternity Sunday / Sunday of the Last Days of the question. However, an alternative proprium called Remembrance Day of the Dormant was made available.

The Reformed Liturgy (1999) lists the Sunday in its liturgical calendar under the name Last Sunday of the church year - Eternity Sunday / Dead Sunday , the Palatinate Agende (2006) both as the last Sunday of the church year (Eternity Sunday) and as the last Sunday of the church year (Dead Sunday) . Both cite the pericopes of eternity Sunday, as they are also reproduced in the Evangelical Worship Book.

The Evangelical Worship Book also recorded a day of remembrance for those who died . It proposes biblical readings that differ from those for eternal Sunday. For Christians , death is the end of earthly life, but this is seen in the perspective of hope in the resurrection of the dead, as described in many places in the Bible, e.g. B. John 11,25 LUT . “According to the will of Ev. The service book should, where it is customary, commemorate the memory of those who have fallen asleep in a separate morning, sermon or Vespers service ... but it is by no means intended to displace the texts of Eternity Sunday. "It is expressly pointed out that the texts of Eternity Sunday are suitable for remembrance of the dead.

In many regional churches, remembrance of the dead is left to the decision of the parish. At least with the reading of the deceased from the last church year - the new one begins on the following Sunday, the first Sunday in Advent - they are remembered in the church services. In many congregations the relatives of the deceased are specially invited to church services in the cemeteries . The Lord's Supper , if it is celebrated on this day, has its place in the main morning service. One of the common customs is to decorate the graves with arrangements or flowers.

Church circles are promoting, out of consideration for the Sunday of the Dead, with the Christmas lights and the Christmas markets only starting in the week before the 1st Advent.

Sunday in ecumenism

In the Roman Catholic Church, this Sunday has been celebrated as Christ the King Sunday since the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council , in the Old Catholic calendar this is called "Sunday of the coming Lord". The festival emphasizes the rule of Christ in eternity and shows parallels to eternity Sunday. English-speaking Lutheran churches that follow the Revised Common Lectionary also celebrate Christ the King Sunday. In the Catholic tradition, the dead are remembered on All Souls' Day .

See also

• The Roman Catholic Church celebrates the memory of the deceased ( All Souls 'Day ) on November 2nd, the day after All Saints' Day .
• The day of national mourning in Germany is a state day of remembrance in memory of the war dead and victims of the tyranny on the Sunday before Eternal Sunday.
• Qingming Festival , April 4th, 5th or 6th is the Chinese festival of the dead.
• O-bon , Japanese Buddhist Remembrance Day, July 15
• National Doden Herdenking , Dutch Remembrance Day, May 4th

literature

• Paul Graff : Contributions to the history of the festival of the dead. In: Monthly for Pastoraltheologie 2 (1906), pp. 62–76
• Karl-Heinrich Bieritz : The church year. Celebrations, memorials and holidays in the past and present ( Beck'sche Reihe 447). 7th updated edition. Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-47585-X .

Web links

Commons : Sunday of the Dead  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Sunday of the Dead  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ RGG, 3rd edition. Volume VI, column 957.
2. ↑ Helmut Merkel:  Festivals and Holidays. IV: Church history . In: Theologische Realenzyklopädie (TRE). Volume 11, de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1983, ISBN 3-11-008577-1 , p. 128.
3. ^ Simone Assmann: Eternity Sunday. In: ekd.de . Archived from the original on January 27, 2016 ; accessed on November 24, 2018 . 
4. ↑ Overview of the state laws: ( Memento of November 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
   • Baden-Württemberg: Law on Sundays and Public Holidays (Public Holidays Act - FTG). in the version of May 8, 1995 (Journal of Laws No. 17, p. 450) entered into force on June 30, 1995 (accessed November 19, 2007; PDF; 20 kB)
   • Bavaria: 1131-3-I. Law on the Protection of Sundays and Public Holidays (Public Holidays Act - FTG). Source: BayRS II, p. 172 ( Memento from July 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) on juris ; Holidays in Bavaria on the website of the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior ( Memento of November 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (both accessed November 19, 2007)
   • Berlin: Law on Sundays and Holidays. From October 28, 1954. Last changed on December 2, 1994 (GVBl. P. 491) (accessed November 19, 2007; PDF; 9 kB)
   • Brandenburg: Law on Sundays and Public Holidays (Public Holidays Act - FTG). From March 21, 1991 (GVBl.I / 91, [No. 06], p. 44), last amended by the law of November 20, 2003 (GVBl.I / 03, [No. 15], p. 287) ( Memento from November 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed November 19, 2007)
   • Bremen: Law on Sundays and Holidays. 12 November 1954 (Journal of Laws p. 115). Last amended by law of March 26, 2002 (Journal of Laws p. 43) (accessed November 19, 2007; PDF; 13 kB)
   • Hamburg: 113-1. Law on Sundays, Holidays, Remembrance Days and Days of Mourning (Holidays Law). From October 16, 1953. Reference: HmbBL I 113-1  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed November 19, 2007); partly also: public holidaysSV  
   • Hessen: Hessian Public Holidays Act (HFeiertagsG). From September 17, 1952. GVBl. S. 145. As amended on December 29, 1971. GVBl. I p. 344 (with subpages) and in a single file on datumsrechner.de (both accessed November 19, 2007; PDF; 18 kB)
   • Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: 1136-1. Law on Sundays and Public Holidays (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Public Holidays Act - FTG MV - reference: GVOBl. MV 2002, p. 145). As published on March 8, 2002 (accessed November 19, 2007)
   • Lower Saxony: Lower Saxony law on public holidays (NFeiertagsG). In the version dated March 7, 1995 (Nds. GVBl. No. 6/1995, issued on March 16, 1995). amended by law of June 23, 2005 (Nds. GVBl. p. 207) (accessed November 19, 2007)
   • North Rhine-Westphalia: Law on Sundays and Public Holidays as published on April 23, 1989 (often: Public Holidays Act NW; PDF; 19 kB) (accessed November 24, 2018)
   • Rhineland-Palatinate: 113-10. State law on the protection of Sundays and public holidays (Public Holidays Act - LFtG -). From July 15, 1970. Reference: GVBl 1970, p. 225
   • Saarland: Law on Sundays and Public Holidays (Public Holidays Act - SFG). Law No. 1040. of February 18, 1976 (Official Gazette p. 213), last amended by Law No. 1587 of February 15, 2006 (Official Gazette, p. 474). See also BS Saar under No. 1131-1. - Excerpt - (with comparisons to other countries) as well as completely on the pages of datumsrechner.de (both accessed November 19, 2007; PDF; 21 kB)
   • Saxony: Law on Sundays and Holidays in the Free State of Saxony (SächsSFG). SächsGVBl. 1992 sheet no. 35, p. 536 Fsn no .: 114-2. Version valid from: July 3, 2002 ( Memento of October 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) with subpages, (accessed November 19, 2007) and in a single file on datumsrechner.de (accessed November 22, 2007; PDF; 12 kB)
   • Saxony-Anhalt: Law on Sundays and Public Holidays (FerienG LSA) in the version published on August 25, 2004, Section 5 (accessed May 21, 2014)
   • Schleswig-Holstein: 1136-2. Law on Sundays and Holidays (SFTG). From June 28, 2004. Reference: GVOBl. 2004, p. 213 (accessed November 19, 2007)
   • Thuringia: Thuringian Public Holidays Act (ThürFtG). Dated December 21, 1994 (accessed November 19, 2007; PDF; 82 kB).
5. ↑ § 2 (1) III Law on Sundays, Holidays, Remembrance Days and Days of Mourning of October 16, 1953 (accessed November 19, 2007; PDF; 9 kB).
6. ^ Reformed Liturgy , p. 604.
7. ↑ Church agenda. Church book for the Evangelical Church of the Palatinate (Protestant State Church) , Volume 2; Pp. 916, 943.
8. ↑ Evangelisches Gottesdienstbuch , p. 406.
9. ↑ Evangelisches Gottesdienstbuch , p. 484.
10. ^ Karl-Heinrich Bieritz: The church service in the church year. In: Evangelisches Gottesdienstbuch. Supplementary volume , p. 188.