Infant weighing

Christmas cradle from southern Germany, 1585

The baby cradle , also Christkindlwiegen or Kindelwiegen is a Christmas custom that goes back to the liturgical game of the Middle Ages and was cultivated in various forms in monasteries, churches or in private circles.

history

The first evidence of a cradle celebration can be found in the text De investigatione Antichristi , which the provost of the Upper Austrian Augustinian canon monastery Reichersberg, Gerhoh (1093–1169), wrote in 1161/1162. According to his description, the performance location was a monastery church, and the actors were monks or clerics. The cradle celebration consisted of a series of chants - from the Liturgy of the Hours and liturgical cantions - which were dramatically enriched by individual actions.

Until the 20th century, the custom can be found in many variations, depending on the place of performance - cathedral, small church, monastery ... - the performers, and probably also the expectations of the audience. Artistically designed cradles with a Christ child doll served as props. In the church, children cradled a figure of the baby Jesus made of wood or wax, lying in a cradle . It is also known that girls sat in a row on long silk ribbons and practiced the Christkindl cradle, each bringing its own cradle with a child made of wax and old lullabies being sung while weighing . For example, the song Joseph, dear Joseph mine, is linked to this custom. In the 16th century, Thomas Naogeorg (also Thomas Kirchmaier) reported on girls and boys who danced in front of a wooden Christ child placed on the altar, while the adults clapped. It was also common for the Christ Child figure to be passed on through the rows of pews in the church.

The Christkindl cradles are forerunners of the Christmas cribs . The oldest isolated Christkindl cradles - i.e. without Maria and Joseph - date from around 1300.

Exactly 850 years after it was first mentioned - on January 7, 2012 - the Viennese expert on medieval music Eberhard Kummer revitalized the custom. Two acolytes rocked the "Christ Child" in a cradle and a historical step dance was performed. The setting was the small Romanesque church of St. Gertrud in Klosterneuburg . The cradle celebration also took place there in January 2013 and 2014.

See also

• Christ child
• Holy Family

literature

• August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben : History of the German hymn up to Luther's time. Rümpler, Hannover 1861, pp. 416-440 ( digitized version ).
• Walter Pötzl : The infant weighing - the oldest Christmas custom In: Customs. From St. Martin's goose to Leonhardiritt, from cradle to grave. Augsburg 1999. pp. 37-39

Web links

• Entry on children's cradles in the Austria Forum  (in the ABC on Austrian Folklore), there also further individual records

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Walter Pötzl; P. 39
2. ↑ Walter Pötzl; Pp. 37-39
3. ^ Eduard Hoffmann-Krayer (ed.): Concise dictionary of German superstition . Volume 9, column 878.
4. ^ Manfred Becker-Huberti : Celebrations - Festivals - Seasons. Living customs all year round. Special edition, Herder Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2001, ISBN 3-451-27702-6 , p. 131.
5. ↑ Ulrike Bergmann: Just a testimony to the past? Nativity scene in Germany. In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt 51/52 1984. pp. 3829-3830
6. ↑ Real Lexicon on German Art History . Volume 3. Col. 603, 604