Martinssingen

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Martinssingen in Cologne

The Martinssingen is a custom that belongs to the Martinstag , the feast of the holy Bishop Martin of Tours on November 11th . Children receive gifts for their singing with the Martin's lanterns, so it is a so-called prey . Singing is only widespread in certain areas and often has local names, such as Schnörzen , Gripschen or Dotzen in the Rhineland , Mätensingen in the Bergisches Land .

procedure

Depending on the location, the singing takes place on the evening of the St. Martin's procession or separately from it, in both cases the date can deviate by several days from the actual St. Martin's Day. The children carry their lanterns made for the Martinszug and move from house to house in groups, smaller children also with their parents. There they then sing one of the traditional Martin songs. The audience is then expected to have sweets, fruit, pastries or other small presents ready to be given to the children as a reward for their singing. In some areas, people sing in front of their neighbors and in front of other private houses. In other areas, retail stores are preferred.

history

The custom on Martin's Day only got its content-related reference to the figure of Saint Martin and the legends about him such as the division of the coat in the 19th century .

November 11th was a traditional cut-off date for the end of the farming year; it was the date for the cattle drive or the end of the pasture year as well as the traditional day on which the payment of the tithe was due, leases and employment relationships ended and began, with the employers making small gifts to the servants and maidservants. This results in numerous mythical customs at this time of the year.

One such tradition of giving to Saint Martin are the “Martinspfennige”, which were paid to the St. Gereon Abbey in Cologne until 1246 in Mönchengladbach , later to the pastor; In 1633 soldiers in Mönchengladbach on the Liedberg (castle in the Neuss-Grevenbroich district) received Martini 6  Talers and 12 Albi to celebrate the day with dignity. The children's “grip” is documented for the year 1525 in Cologne , where the children went from door to door singing on the evening before Martini and received what was left of the meal.

In the Orthodox tradition, St. Martin's Day was at the beginning of Lent , which was celebrated before Christmas . The number of animals that could not be fed through the winter had to be reduced, and existing foods such as fat, lard and eggs that were not "suitable for Lent" had to be consumed. On the last day before the start of this Lent, people were able to feast again - analogous to Carnival - there were social celebrations and Martins fires were burned and fire customs were practiced. From this grew the tradition of torch relay or lantern running .

In predominantly Protestant regions, martinis singing developed around the 18th century, with some of its own songs, where the focus is no longer on the holy bishop Martin of Tours, but on the reformer Martin Luther , who was baptized on St. Martin's Day, November 11, 1483 and, as was often practiced at the time, was given the name of the day saint.

Well-known Martin songs

Supraregional

Through the streets up and down
Through the streets, up and down,
the lanterns light up again,
red, yellow, green, blue:
dear Martin, come and see!

Rhineland

De helleje Zinte Mätes
De helleje Zinte Mätes,
Dat wor ne jode Mann,
Hä jov de Kinder Käzje
Un stoch se selver.
Butz, butz, aries butz,
Dat wor ne jode man.
A rich man lives here,
who can give us a lot.
He should give a lot, he
should live long.
He shall die
blessedly, acquire the kingdom of heaven.
Don't let us stand so long,
because we want to go on,
go on.
Dialect depending on the local variant Rhenish .

Saint Martin
Saint Martin, Saint Martin,
Saint Martin rode through snow and wind,
His steed carried him away quickly.
Saint Martin rode with easy courage,
his coat covers him warmly and well.

Sat in the snow, sat in the snow,
In the snow, there sat a poor man,
Had no clothes, wore rags.
"Oh help me in my need,
otherwise the bitter frost will be my death!"

Saint Martin, Saint Martin,
Saint Martin pulled the reins,
His horse stood still with the poor man.
Saint Martin with the sword shares
the warm coat without lingering.

Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin,
Sankt Martin stopped half of them:
the beggar wants to thank him quickly,
but Sankt Martin rode out in a
hurry with his coat part.
From the Lower Rhine, since the end of the 19th century

Bergisches Land

Maten es en goden man (Martin is a good man)
Maten es en goden man
who can give us something ;
The apples and beers, the
needs are still mät.
De Frau de the bustard goes ropp,
un burns the lap full of mät doraf,
O wa'n go't woman es dat!
Owen in the Schodensteen,
do hang'n de long sausages.
Woman, gett me de long,
lott de kotten hangen,
gett wat, halt wat,
oppet Joer wier wat.

DVA E 1340 (Lennep im Bergischen, 1840)

See also

literature

Web links

swell

  1. ^ Manfred Becker-Huberti : Celebrations - Festivals - Seasons. Living customs all year round. Special edition, Herder Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2001, ISBN 3-451-27702-6 , p. 34.
  2. ↑ Dieter Pesch: The Martins Customs in the Rhineland. Change and present position. (Dissertation of February 6, 1970) Münster 1970, p. 29.39.
    Manfred Becker-Huberti, online lexicon
  3. ^ Manfred Becker-Huberti: Celebrations - Festivals - Seasons. Living customs all year round. Special edition, Herder Verlag, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2001, ISBN 3-451-27702-6 , p. 36.
  4. ↑ Dieter Pesch: The Martins Customs in the Rhineland. Change and present position. (Dissertation) Münster 1969, p. 59.
  5. ^ Ernst Klusen : German songs. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1980, ISBN 3-458-04855-2 , p. 731 and 852
  6. ↑ Theo Mang, Sunhilt Mang (ed.): Der Liederquell . Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2007, ISBN 978-3-7959-0850-8 , pp. 720-721 .