Rod of life
The rod of life is a green branch with which one used to touch children or young women or to beat them gently in winter or in the beginning of spring in order, as was probably believed, to transfer the vitality of the plant to humans. This ritual was part of a pre-Christian fertility cult , which probably originates from the early days of agriculture. Sometimes pets and plants were touched with life rods.
The symbolism of the rod of life was preserved, among other things, in the Barbara branch and the Nicholas rod . Other rituals in which the rod of life is used are the tasting easter and the pepper .
literature
- Hans Freimark : Occultism and Sexuality. Contributions to the cultural history of the past and present. 1909.
- O. way: The stroke with the rod of life and its dialect names. In: Journal for German Dialects. 5th year, 1910, pp. 113–116.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Definition of terms in the lexicon on nikolaus-von-myra.de
- ↑ Rod of Life | Song lexicon for the rod of life in the folk song archive on volksliederarchiv.de
- ↑ rod of life - scary tour Leipzig on gruseltour-leipzig.de
- ↑ Draw strength from the pagan rod of life | Regions on merkur.de