Shepherd girl Barbara
The shepherd girl Barbara is a traditional legend from the southern Brandenburg town of Bad Liebenwerda , which was created during the Thirty Years War .
legend
Desperate about the raging plague, Barbara left her hut in the city corner in the bright glow of the rising moon and headed towards Elster. She lingered by an alder bush and fell on her knees to ask Lupa, god of the Wends , to end the suffering of the people. After she got up again, she bowed once more to the alder bush and suddenly heard a whispering voice that said:
Barbara, take off your shoes, head high and walk the path to the magpie that I will show you. Then walk straight ahead to a ford of the river to the opposite bank. If I am leading you, you have to go, do not deviate from the path. Spread your hands on either side and dip them in the water. Now step to the bank and kill them with a stone that you will find there. Hurry home and fry both fish, then go back to the magpie, scoop with a jug. The water consecrated in this way will now have healing powers. Only after sunrise go to the sick people who have been infected by the plague and give them fish food and water from consecrated jugs. Repeat this night after night and day after day.
The girl did as her voice had commanded and never said a word about it. The first patients she treated got up again after a few days and recovered.
Historical background and origin of the legend
During the Thirty Years' War the area around Bad Liebenwerda suffered greatly from troops passing through. In addition, there were plague epidemics before and during this time, which claimed their victims in the city after 1584 and 1599, especially 1633, 1652 and 1663. During this time, the shepherd girl Barbara Stirblinger lived with her parents in modest circumstances in today's Fischergasse in the former Slavic fishing village of Stadtwinkel .
Every day the spreading plague fell victim to the inhabitants of the village and the nearby town. In the cruel event, the girl cared for the sick and tried to heal them with the water from the nearby Black Elster . As the legend reports, the plague sufferers recovered after just a few days and they spoke of a miracle that even the church became aware of. In order to get to the bottom of the mystery, the Protestant pastor Matthäus Gilbert went to the village. Here he got to know the faith healer and convinced himself of the recovery of the seriously ill; but could not find anything mysterious.
Barbara Fountain
The Barbarabrunnen has been on the Liebenwerda market square since 1910. The bronze figure of a 1.35 meter tall "German Michel" was originally located here, leaning on his sword. After the figure was melted down for war purposes in 1943, the fountain initially remained empty.
In 1956 a bronze figure by the sculptor Dorothea von Philipsborn was used. The figure represents the shepherd girl with a dreamy look at the water that runs from the two fish she holds horizontally in her hands into the fountain basin.
present
Barbara has been elected in Bad Liebenwerda since 1999 , who symbolically reminds of the legend as the representative of the spa town. She appears at festivals, public events and similar occasions with a sash and a jug.
literature
- Wolfgang Eckelmann, Michael Ziehlke: Chronicle of the City of Liebenwerda , Ed .: Association for City Marketing and Economy Bad Liebenwerda eV, 2007, pp. 54/55 and 134
- Home calendar for the old district of Bad Liebenwerda, the Mückenberger Ländchen, the outskirts of the Schraden and Uebigau-Falkenberg. No.52 , Ed .: Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Heimatkunde e. V. Bad Liebenwerda, Gräser Verlag Grossenhain OHG, 1999, article by Tina Winkler, Miriam Kott: The monument fountain on the Liebenwerda market square , pages 142–148, ISBN 3-932913-04-3