Food blessing

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Meat consecration food blessing Carinthia
Typical basket contents for a "meat consecration"

The food blessing (also meat consecration in the Alpine country ) is a Catholic custom in some areas of Austria , Germany and South Tyrol as well as in some other Catholic countries, such as B. Poland or Croatia . In a rite shortly before Easter - on Maundy Thursday or Holy Saturday - a priest blesses dishes, often Reindling , Easter bread or Easter pines , smoked meat , Easter eggs and horseradish (in Austria: horseradish), which then, according to earlier tradition, at the end of Lent from Easter Sunday, the feast day of the resurrection, to be eaten in the family circle (regionally called "Weihfleischessen" or "Easter snack").

History and meaning

In the Bavarian- speaking area, the blessing of Easter dishes has been documented since the 7th century; In popular belief, food gained special powers through the blessing near Easter. The table fellowship of Jesus with the apostles should also be remembered.

The custom is particularly cultivated in Carinthia and Styria , where the food blessing is also ironically called the “eighth Styrian sacrament”, since many people participate in it who are otherwise not regular worshipers; It is estimated that every fourth to fifth Styrian takes part in a meat consecration on Holy Saturday .

procedure

The liturgical sequence of the blessing is laid down in the Benedictine. In contrast to the Polish custom of Święconka , the food blessing in the Alpine region usually does not take place as part of a Holy Mass , but rather during a short prayer, which is usually held in the open air at noon or afternoon on Holy Saturday near chapels , wayside shrines or wayside crosses . The food to be blessed is wrapped in baskets with white, embroidered towels. After the blessing prayer, the opened baskets are sprinkled with holy water. After a short prayer (usually to our Father ) the prayer ends.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Easter egg and Easter bunny are thousands of years old. (No longer available online.) In: Kleine Zeitung. March 17, 2010, archived from the original on September 12, 2014 ; accessed on March 30, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Meat consecration: a must for Carinthians. (No longer available online.) In: Kleine Zeitung. April 8, 2009, archived from the original on June 20, 2009 ; accessed on March 30, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Robert Pauritsch / Norbert Adam: Customs in Styria . Festivals - Customs - Recipes. Verlag Styria, Graz-Vienna-Cologne 2007 ISBN 978-3-222-13228-5 p. 96f.
  4. ↑ International Working Group of the Liturgical Commissions in the German-Language Area (Ed.): Benediktionale: Study edition for the Catholic dioceses of the German-language area . Freiburg: Herder, 2014. Section 7.