Light procession Saint-Nicolas
The Saint-Nicolas candlelight procession ( French Procession aux flambeaux de Saint-Nicolas ) is a procession that has been taking place in Saint-Nicolas-de-Port, southeast of Nancy, every year since 1246, on the Saturday closest to December 6th . The event honors St. Nicholas as the patron saint of the city and the entire Lorraine region . At the popular church festival , over 20,000 visitors are regularly present in the small town with around 7500 inhabitants. In Lorraine, St. Nicholas is as popular as Santa Claus .
event
First , a word service is celebrated in the Saint-Nicolas basilica , which was built in the late Gothic flamboyant style. There is a large number of flag-bearers and religious groups attending the service. A statue and the relics of the saint, including a finger joint that Aubert de Varangéville brought back from a crusade in 1087, are exhibited for veneration at the beginning. The finger relic is kept in a silver shrine in the form of an outstretched forearm. A bust of the holy bishop and a reliquary with historical handcuffs are also shown.
During the liturgical celebration, in which non-Catholic clergy, especially Orthodoxy, also participate, the lighting in the church is switched off. The church-goers light up the room with candles, on which candle shades are attached, on which the most important texts are clearly printed. Then the procession begins. The participants join in at least the refrain of the great processional song with 65 stanzas in honor of St. Nicholas:
«St Nicolas, ton crédit d'âge en age
A fait pleuvoir tes bienfaits sovverains;
Viens couvre encore de ton doux patronage
Tes vieux amis, les enfants des Lorrains »
The procession goes through the corridors of the church according to a previously announced scheme and lasts for several hours. In the late afternoon of the same day, a folkloric parade takes place in the city center, in which floats and music bands also take part. In the region, Saint-Nicolas is always accompanied by his donkey and the terrifying farmhand Ruprecht . Nowadays, St. Nicholas distributes sweets for good children during the procession (mirabelle plums for the girls, chestnuts for the boys) and his companion, Knecht Ruprecht, threatens those who disobeyed with punishment.
A weekly market held in the afternoon, the “Ecrire à Saint Nicolas” competition and a children's procession round off the festive day.
literature
- Colette Méchin: Saint Nicholas: fêtes et traditions populaires d'hier et d'aujourd'hui. Volume 2, Berger-Levrault, 1978, ISBN 9782701302171 , pp. 33-37.
Web links
- Press release of the Lorraine Tourism Administration (2010) (French, PDF, 2 MiB)
- Saint-Nicolas-de-Port - Fêtes de la St Nicolas (Lorraine) ( YouTube video)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.swr.de/fmh/-/id=10675482/property=download/nid=100722/1pw3izd/fmh-20121204-lothringen.pdf
- ↑ Brochure of the event, Ed .: Office de tourisme de Saint-Nicolas-de-Port (2011)
- ↑ a b Press release of the Lorraine Tourism Administration (2010) ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French; PDF; 2.1 MB)
- ^ À Saint-Nicolas, patron de la Lorraine
- ↑ Tourism portal Lorraine ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.mylorraine.fr
- ^ City administration of St.-Nicolas-de-Port
