Bells ringing

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Bells ringing: The bell is mechanically set in a pendulum motion until the clapper hits the edge of the bell. Alternative impact device on the outside. Bell chamber of the town church St. Marien in Homberg . History bell from 1654.

Bells ringing (also: chimes ) is the ringing of bells on certain occasions in a certain form. Church bells are rung according to a ringing order . A distinction is made between ecclesiastical and secular bells. When the bell rings, the bell and clapper swing like a pendulum; if the bell is rigidly attached and the clapper is moved with a rope, it is more likely to be said to strike a bell.

In addition, especially in parts of northern Germany, there is beering , in which the bells are struck by hand with a hammer on the outside.

Church bells

Audio file / audio sample Czech death knell ? / i
Striking bells instead of ringing bells in the Russian Orthodox Church : rigid bells, only the clappers are moved. Ipatios Monastery in Kostroma .

Traditionally, the church bells ring before a service to call the congregation together to the church, as well as during the service at the Our Father prayer (Protestant) or during the Conversion (Catholic) as well as on Maundy Thursday and on Easter Vigil during the Gloria . The same applies to baptisms, weddings, burials (death bells) and similar events (secular bells). There is also the angelic ringing of the Catholic Church, the morning, noon and evening ringing of the church bells, to which the prayer The Angel of the Lord - in Easter time the Regina caeli - is prayed. The counterpart to this in the Protestant churches is the entrustment. In many places, especially in rural areas, the death of a member of the parish is indicated by the noon or evening ringing of the death bell (also known as the death bell) after the news of the death has arrived in the parish office .

The tradition of church bells is constitutionally protected in Germany by freedom of religion .

For 50 years, commencing Germany radio the New Year's Day with the ringing of bells from around the world.

Worldly peal

Carillon in Berlin.

The strike of the hour , the regular strike on the hour, often also on the quarter of an hour, has no church background. It dates from the Middle Ages, when the majority of the population did not have a clock and were dependent on the church clock. However, the tradition has held up to this day and is often reinterpreted by parishes as a liturgical symbol for transience and eternity.

The ringing of bells on New Year's Eve is also of worldly origin. In addition, in the absence of alarm sirens, the church bells can be rung in an emergency, e.g. B. in case of fire or attack alarm.

Secular bells (also: profane bells) in Germany are not protected by religious freedom, but only as a tradition, and are therefore weighed up with consideration for local residents. If they mostly feel disturbed, the clock can be dispensed with at night or the volume level can be lowered by changing the tower room acoustics.

Bells in the right

The ringing of bells can be perceived as noise and thus becomes a matter of dispute and an occasion for controversial discussions. In addition, in Germany the ringing of bells is a recurring standard case in legal training, namely on legal recourse problems and the binding nature of the norm-concretizing administrative regulation Technical Instructions for Protection against Noise (TA Lärm).

While the liturgical bells ring, the way to administrative law is opened, when the bell rings, the way to civil justice is opened. The distinction is important for the presentation of evidence, the principle of investigation only applies in administrative legal channels . In the problem area of ​​the binding nature of the TA Lärm, there is the special feature that the ringing of liturgical bells modifies the guideline values ​​of the TA Lärm . In other words: The otherwise strict guideline values ​​of the TA Lärm do not apply to liturgical bells, because the church has certain constitutional privileges.

See also

literature

  • Alain Corbin: The language of bells. Rural feeling culture and symbolic order in France in the 19th century . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-10-010210-X .
  • Ansgar Hense: ringing bells and striking the clock. The use of church bells in ecclesiastical and state legal systems . (= State Church Law Treatises; Vol. 32). Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-428-09346-1 (also dissertation, University of Freiburg i. Br. 1996/1997).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The celebration of the sacraments of the sick. The anointing of the sick and the order of the pastoral care of the sick in the Catholic dioceses of the German-speaking area. Second edition. Benziger [u. a.], Solothurn / Düsseldorf [u. a.] 1994, ISBN 3-545-50631-2 , p. 140.
  2. ↑ Bavarian Administrative Court
  3. ↑ Andres Marti: At night the bells must be silent In: derbund.ch , August 31, 2018, accessed on September 18, 2018.

Web links

Wiktionary: ringing bells  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations