Lucien House Swimming

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Lucienhäuschen with a replica of the monastery church of Fürstenfeld St. Maria Himmelfahrt

The Lucien House Swimming - formerly also known as the flooding of lights - is a traditional custom that goes back a long way. It is held annually in the Upper Bavarian town of Fürstenfeldbruck and the municipality of Grafrath on December 13th, the day of remembrance of Saint Lucia , and is now unique in all of southern Germany .

history

Origin of the custom

Prior to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, the winter solstice date was December 13th , dedicated to Saint Lucia , the "Bringer of Light".

In 1785 Fürstenfeldbruck was threatened by flooding of the Amper river . Especially on December 13th, the risk of flooding is said to have been very high. The citizens of Fürstenfeldbruck, who feared for their houses, gathered in the monastery church and asked Saint Lucia for help. They solemnly promised to hold a memorial service on December 13th every year if their city was spared. As an offering and a sign that they placed their fate in the hands of God, many of the citizens of Fürstenfeldbruck had recreated models of their houses and courtyards about one meter high out of cardboard on a wooden board. The cottages contained candles in their hollow interior, which were lit after the prayer in the church. Thereupon the houses were put in the amperes.

In fact, December 13th, 1785 remained the day with the highest water level in the Amper and from then on the citizens celebrated a service in honor of Saint Lucia every year out of gratitude. Although the service no longer took place at the beginning of the 19th century, cardboard models of the Fürstenfeldbruck houses with burning candles were still placed in the amperes until 1851.

However, the flood of 1785 was not the origin of this custom, but only the reason to revive it. There is several evidence of the practice of this custom before 1785. At the end of the 1780s, Balduin Helm, who later became the abbot of the Fürstenfeld monastery , wrote in a directory of services on December 13: “Festum St. Luciae - Lucia Day. Today at the fifth hour at the Marien Altar in Bruck the pastor reads mass to the students, from whom offerings are made. After the mass, the schoolmaster organizes a procession with the children singing through the village, with the children holding illuminated houses in their hands that they put in the amperes. ” On February 18, 1706, the Bishop of Freising demanded clarification about the December 13th in Bruck practiced custom: "... at St. Luciae in Prugg negst Fürstenfeld this certain abuse crept in, that one leaned paperless heusel sambt to an owner often put on the glon (wrong for amperes) and let go down care, ignorant of the causes." . On March 30, 1706, the dean Urbanus Widmann, who was written to, replied to the Bishop of Freising: “... that deme in everything (is), namely that this is an old origin, its origin from a decent pouring of the bunting, so the markht Prugg flows through , ... A modification of such large and dangerous pourings of melted water would be a hero on the feast of the heyl from that time. Luciae ein Heylige must read, which not only creates the castle, but also the school clerks with their teacher who, after completing heyliger, must terminate with them, so everyone in their hands papirene heusl and liechter in it, the bunting goes to where a fisherman is in ainer züllen (Zille = Kahn) you expected, from you the papirens announce heusl, then on the water sözt and dise without further ceremonies and words with constant watching the announcer lets run, to wass züll (goal) and this ends but this I couldn't ask for anything. " Widmann adds, " I also heard diss, so it is now (although) that the customers before this, after their suspicious of this kündspüll, in the markh of house drove around the house and rattled, who collected all sorts of admiration and refreshments from the castle, so sye afterwards spoiled with each other in verbal joys ... ".
It was pointed out several times in this correspondence that this is already an old one” . According to the description of 1706, swimming with lights was associated with a prayerful use , even if this was no longer practiced at the time of the survey. In the invoice documents of the Bruck market in 1621 it says: "Luzia 1 fl ( Gulden )" and 1624: "Luziae den Schuelkhinder zu Prugg wie breichig 1 fl." A similar entry is also found for 1628. This "wie breichig" , d. H. as has been customary for a long time, also at this point in time points to an older custom.

To understand the origins of this ancient custom, it is essential to look at the customs of other regions associated with December 13th. Until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, Lucien's day was the day of the winter solstice, i.e. the shortest day of the year. This he remained in the consciousness of the population for several centuries, even if in reality December 21st is the winter solstice (both Johann Andreas Schmeller and Karl von Leoprechting - both in the middle of the 19th century - St. Luzia is still known as Called midwinter day). A number of customs focused on this day of transition and change, in which the light floating in water played an essential role. The custom of flooding lights was not only limited to Bavaria, there is also plenty of evidence of lights floating on the water on certain winter days from all over the Alpine region and neighboring areas, even from the Balkans. What all these customs of "flooding the lights" have in common is the exposure of the light to the life-giving water on an appointment around mid-winter and the beginning of spring. “One wanted to give strength to the sun in its greatest distance from the earth, in its weakness, so to speak with earthly fire as the image of heavenly light” ( Leopold Kretzenbacher ).

Continuation of the tradition

Lucienhäuschen exhibition in the Sparkasse
Little house on the way to the Amperbrücke

It was not until 1949 that the rector of the municipal boys' school (today's Philipp-Weiß-Grundschule in Fürstenfeldbruck ), Georg Kachelriß (1902–1979), remembered the old custom and again built Lucien houses with his students in the craft class On December 13, 1949, after dark, they were handed over to the waters of the Amper.

Since then, the Fürstenfeldbruck children have been building houses out of cardboard, wood, foam polystyrene and tracing paper every year in the Advent season with the active help of their parents. After the traditional Lucien service on Leonhardsplatz in front of the pilgrimage church of St. Leonhard , the houses are carried in a procession to the Amperufer in the evening and handed over to the current under the supervision of the water watch. The houses, lit by the candles inside, slowly drift down the river: From the Amperbrücke you can see a colorful spectacle due to the colorful windows made of transparent paper.

In recent years, every December 13th, around 200 houses, blessed by the city pastor, were floated on the Amper.

literature

  • Clemens Böhne: The Lucien cult in Bruck , in: Amperland . Dachau 9 (1973) p. 324 f.
  • Toni Drexler: The Luzienhäuslschwimmen in Fürstenfeldbruck , in: Brucker Blätter, yearbook of the historical association for the city and the district of Fürstenfeldbruck for the year 1994 , Fürstenfeldbruck 1994, pp. 49-59.
  • Günther Kapfhammer: Flooding lights in Fürstenfeldbruck , in: Schönere Heimat , Munich (1970) p. 597 f.
  • ders .: Light flooding in Fürstenfeldbruck (Luzienhauschenschwemmen, Luziahäuslschwimmen) , in: Customs in the Alpine countries, A lexical guide through the year , Munich 1977, p. 166 f.
  • ders .: Custom , in: Der Landkreis Fürstenfeldbruck, Nature - History - Culture , Fürstenfeldbruck 1992, p. 475 f.
  • Birgitta Klemenz: Testimony to intensive pastoral care - The functionary of Helm , in: Brucker Land und Menschen , year 1993 No. 40, local supplement of the Fürstenfeldbrucker Tagblatt dated December 24, 1993.
  • Leopold Kretzenbacher : Lights on the River, Von den Luzienlichtern in Customs and Literature , manuscript of a broadcast of the Bavarian Radio on December 10, 1961.

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