Christmas Eve straw

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Christmas crib with Christmas Eve straw in the mountain church (Oberneuschönberg)

With Christmas Eve straw (including Christmas Eve straw , Jul-straw ) is mainly used in the Ore Mountains , the Vogtland , in parts of the Lausitz , Poland and North and South-Eastern Europe the Christmas room or the space under the Christmas tree designed.

In many areas the custom traditionally reminds of the birth of the baby Jesus in a stable. In some regions, the straw is woven into long braids during Advent , which are then tied together to form a mat. On Christmas Eve , the mats were laid out in the living room. In the Ore Mountains, the centuries-old custom disappeared with the introduction of the threshing machine in the 1920s and is now often only cultivated symbolically. Today the nativity scene figures are often placed on a layer of straw in the living rooms and churches. In some areas of the Ore Mountains, the straw is placed under the tablecloth on Christmas Eve.

In the Lausitz, too, the living rooms used to be laid out with straw on Christmas Eve. The following night, all residents of the house slept on the straw to show that they belonged together as equals within the family.

In Southeastern Europe, straw is distributed under the dining table on Christmas Eve, in which the mother hides small gifts for the children or spreads out on the food. In Poland, too, bundles of straws have a great tradition in the parlor at Christmas time. On the one hand, the straw symbolizes the manger with the baby Jesus, on the other hand, it is used to ask for a rich harvest in the next year.

In Northern Europe - after the traditional Yule sheaves have been attached to poles in front of the house - the living rooms are laid out with the so-called Yule straw, on which all residents sleep the next night.

literature

  • Erhard Heinold, Alix Paulsen: Ore Mountains Customs ABC. Husum 2003, ISBN 3-89876-061-8 , p. 55.
  • Christian Friedrich Röder : Christmas in the mountains . In: Helmuth Stapff (ed.): Christmas in the Erzgebirge . Hofmeister, Leipzig 1955, p. 53.
  • Werner Markgraf: The Christmas Eve straw . In: Erzgebirgische Heimatblätter 1995, issue 6, p. 8ff.
  • Gerd Friday: The Christmas Eve straw in the customs of the Ore Mountains. In: Erzgebirgische Heimatblätter 2005, issue 6, pp. 16-18

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl Sewart: Christmas tree and pyramid: An Erzgebirge Christmas book . EDITION digital, 2013, ISBN 978-3-86394-440-7 , p. 95 .
  2. ↑ Erhard Heinold, Alix Paulsen: Erzgebirgisches Customs ABC . Husum, 2003, ISBN 3-89876-061-8 , pp. 69 .
  3. ↑ Erhard Heinold, Alix Paulsen: Erzgebirgisches Customs ABC . Husum, 2003, ISBN 3-89876-061-8 , pp. 55 .
  4. ↑ annaberger.info: Christmas customs. Retrieved December 23, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Dietmar Sehn: Christmas in Upper Lusatia . Sutton, 2014, ISBN 978-3-95400-380-8 , pp. 138 .
  6. ^ Rüdiger Vossen: Christmas customs all over the world. From Martini to Candlemas . Ellert & Richter, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8319-0474-7 , pp. 244 .
  7. ↑ Christmas in Poland. info-polen.com, accessed December 23, 2015 .
  8. ^ Rüdiger Vossen: Christmas customs all over the world. From Martini to Candlemas . Ellert & Richter, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8319-0474-7 , pp. 235 .