Mettenlaterne
The Mette Lantern (regional and Christian or Christmas lantern ) is a specially designed lantern , as Mette light , now often of children in the Christian Vesper , Christian Democrats supported or Finster Mette. The custom is widespread in the Ore Mountains , Vogtland and also in some parts of Thuringia . Especially in the Ore Mountains, the Mettenlaterns are placed around the altar or in front of the church door during Christmas Vespers or Christmas mass .
Wearing the Mette lanterns goes back to a mining tradition that the miners for their transition Mette Geleucht brought and lit up the sanctuary.
"For Christmas mass or for Christmas vespers, big and small, provided with a Christmas lantern, should move to the church, which this time without any other lighting, only lit by the visitors' Christ lanterns, makes a particularly cozy impression."
In the course of time, Mette lanterns, which were initially made of wood and at the beginning of the 20th century, were made of embossed cardboard, took the place of miners' lights. Many families used to make the Mettenlaternen themselves. The lanterns were lit at dusk from the first Advent in the houses or in front of the doorways.
Alwin Seifert, director of the toy school in Seiffen , had wooden lanterns made at the school from 1914, which quickly became very popular. In the 1930s a patent was applied for on a dismantling wooden lantern from the Ore Mountains .
The three- or four-sided Mettenlaterne is now mostly made of plywood or cardboard and contains translucent motifs on the sides - made of colored parchment paper , paper cut patterns or sawn plywood. In addition to motifs of the birth of Christ, traditional motifs from the Ore Mountains, such as caroling figures or miners and angels , are often common on the pages .
In the Ore Mountains folk art , the traditional motif of the Mette lantern is often taken up. Carved angels , carolers and choirboys often carry a Mettenlatern next to a Mettenlicht. Also on the large Christmas mountain "Mettengang", which is exhibited in the Erzgebirge Toy Museum, many figures of children and adults wear Mettenlaterns.
In some villages in the Ore Mountains, such as Seiffen, Pobershau or Steinbach , the Christmas street lighting in the form of colorful lanterns is reminiscent of the Mettenlaternen.
Individual evidence
- ↑ berliner-zeitung.de: Christmas decoration - hangs an elephant on the Christmas tree. , accessed December 23, 2014
- ↑ Manfred Blechschmidt: Christmas customs in the Ore Mountains. Altis-Verlag, Friedrichsthal 2010, ISBN 978-3-910195-60-8 , p. 82
- ↑ Manfred Blechschmidt: Christmas customs in the Ore Mountains . Altis-Verlag, Friedrichsthal 2010, ISBN 978-3-910195-60-8 , p. 82
- ^ Erhard Heinold & Alix Paulsen: Erzgebirgisches Customs ABC . Husum 2003, ISBN 3-89876-061-8 , p. 72ff.
- ^ Erhard Heinold & Alix Paulsen: Erzgebirgisches Customs ABC . Husum 2003, ISBN 3-89876-061-8 , p. 74
