Maria walked through a thorn forest

Maria durch ein Dornwald is a German-language Advent song from Eichsfeld (in today's Lower Saxony ), which was first published in 1850 and the melody of which may have been from the 16th century.

history

From its origins, Maria went through a thorn forest (read modernized, among other things, when Maria went through a thorn forest ) not an Advent song, but a pilgrimage song that was initially spread orally in the 19th century, starting from Catholic Eichsfeld , in the diocese of Paderborn .

The oldest known version with seven stanzas can be found printed in 1850 in the collection of sacred songs by August von Haxthausen and Dietrich Bocholtz-Asseburg ; the actual time of origin of the song is unclear, at least an occasional date to the 16th century cannot be proven. However, in the Andernach hymn book from 1608, the song Jesum und seine Mutter zahrt is printed with the note “after the melody Maria went through this forest ”, in which a germ cell of the Advent song is sometimes assumed.

It was the songbooks of the youth movement at the beginning of the 20th century that made the song popular, but also brought about its change from a pilgrimage to a supposedly popular Advent song: around 1910 the song was first published in the three-verse version known today in the Jugenheimer Liederblatt ; In 1912 it was included in the Zupfgeigenhansl and in 1914 in the songbook Der Spielmann published by Klemens Neumann , co-founder of the Catholic Quickborn youth movement . In Praise of God the song is printed under number 224.

content

The first three stanzas of Mary's wandering with the child “under her heart” refer to the pericope of Mary's visit to Elisabeth from the Gospel of Luke ( Lk 1.39–56  EU ). It is adorned with the motif of the dead thorn forest, a symbol of sterility and death, which begins to blossom when Mary passes with the divine child. The other stanzas revolve around the mystery of God's Incarnation in catechetical question and answer form .

Text of the three-verse version customary today

“Maria went through a thorn forest,
Kyrie eleison .
Maria went through a thorn forest that
has not borne any leaves in seven years.
Jesus and Mary.

What did Mary carry under her heart?
Kyrie eleison.
A little child without pain, that was
what Maria carried under her heart.
Jesus and Mary.

The thorns bore roses,
Kyrie eleison.
When the child was carried through the forest
, the thorns carried roses.
Jesus and Mary. "

Text of the seven-stanza version from 1850

“Maria went through a forest of thorns,
   Kyrieleison.
Maria went through a forest of thorns,
It has not borne any leaves in seven years!
   Jesus and Mary!

What did Mary carry under her heart?
   Kyrieleison.
A little child without pain,
Maria carried that under her heart!
   Jesus and Mary!

The thorns bore roses,
   Kyrieleison.
When the child was carried through the forest! -
The thorns bore roses!
   Jesus and Mary!

What should the child's name be?
   Kyrieleison.
The name that should be Christ
That was the name from the beginning.
   Jesus and Mary!

Who should be the child's Baptist?
   Kyrieleison.
That should be Sanct Johannis,
He should be the child's Baptist!
   Jesus and Mary!

What does the child get for the Pathengeld?
   Kyrieleison.
Heaven and the whole world,
the child gets them for money!
   Jesus and Mary!

Who has redeemed the world alone?
   Kyrieleison.
That was what the Christ Child did,
That alone saved the world! -
   Jesus and Mary! "

melody

literature

• Hermann Kurzke , Christiane Schäfer: Actually a song from the Wandervogel movement. In: FAZ No. 298, p. 6 of December 22, 2011 ( online ( Memento of December 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ); PDF; 467 kB).
• Hermann Kurzke, Christiane Schäfer: Myth Maria. Famous Marienlieder and their history. CH Beck, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-406-66956-9 , pp. 7–23 ( DOI: 10.17104 / 9783406669576-7 ; limited preview in the Google book search).

Web links

Commons : Maria walked through a thorn forest  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Eckhard John: Maria went through a thorn forest (2002). In: Popular and Traditional Songs. Historical-critical song lexicon of the German Folk Song Archive .
• Maria went through a thorn forest in the song project of Carus-Verlag and SWR2.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Theo Mang, Sunhilt Mang (ed.): Der Liederquell . Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2007, ISBN 978-3-7959-0850-8 , pp. 1017-1018 .
2. ↑ Hans Breuer (ed.): Der Zupfgeigenhansl. Hofmeister, Leipzig 1915.
3. ↑ Klemens Neumann (ed.): The minstrel. Songbook for youth and people. Rothenfels Castle, Quickborn, 1914 (later editions by Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz).
4. ↑ ^{a b} Praise to God . Catholic prayer and hymn book, Bishops of Germany, Austria, the Diocese of Bozen-Brixen (Ed.), 2013, No. 224.
5. ↑ August von Haxthausen, Dietrich Bocholtz-Asseburg (ed.): Spiritual folk songs with their original ways, collected from oral tradition and rare old hymn books. Paderborn 1850, pp. 164-165. Quoted from the online version in the Historisch-Kritischen Liederlexikon of the German Folk Song Archive.