Newweling

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Newweling

The Newweling ( Pl. : The Newweling ) is a traditional Mainzer candle that the Totengedenken to Allerheiligen and Allerseelen is used. It is characterized by its conical shape and consists only of spirally twisted wicks covered with candle wax . The five colors red, white, blue, yellow and green are traditionally used for the candle wax. The combination of different colored wax strands results in the characteristic, colorful appearance of the Newweling.

origin

Newweling sales stand in front of the main cemetery in Mainz on All Saints' Day

history

The candle was first mentioned in 1367 (or as early as 1347) in a document in which the Lady Richildis von Sobernheim stipulated that twenty pounds of wax would be bought from her estate and "in cereis" on the 1st, 7th and 30th day after her death et in nebeling ”, that is, in the form of candles and Nebelingen should be burned, the candles on the altar during the memorial service , the Nebelinge on the grave.

In 1424, Hamann zum Widder (also Humbert zum Widder ), a leading representative of the wealthy patrician families in the city, ordered "that four nebulae should be laid on one's grave on the day of all souls, and they borne the me." four Nebelinge should lay on his grave on All Souls' Day and the candles should burn during mass).

Origin of name

The name Newweling is derived from fog according to the Mainz dictionary , and fog light and fog ring can also be interpreted and thus probably refer to the cloudy and foggy weather that usually prevails on All Saints 'Day and All Souls' Day. Nebeling, mentioned in 1347, is similar to Nebelung (fog month), an old German name for November .

Myths and legends

In the world of sagas and legends belong interpretations that connect the Newweling with the related Nibelungen or interpret the hat-like shape as a kind of invisibility cap . A Nibelung is said to have made the city of Mainz unsafe in November and was driven off the Newweling with the help of light.

According to another interpretation, the traditional shape is associated with a pointed hat (compare Hennin ), which witches and wizards have been wearing in pictures since at least the 17th century . The Newweling would therefore be the magic hat of a fog child and should be reminiscent of the invisible camouflage or fog cap of the Nibelungs.

Manufacturing

Newweling with wooden cone for winding

Since the beginning of the 1970s, the Newweling has only been handcrafted by the Tusar wax goods factory in Mainz (formerly: Wax Drawing Lorenz Werner Ww.) And brought to All Saints 'Day and All Souls ' Day by the Krohn family, who have been selling candles since 1927 (in the fourth generation) the main cemetery , the Mombacher forest cemetery and the Gonsenheim cemetery (as of 2019). Before that there was at least a second Newweling producer in Mainz-Weisenau with Kunz & Zeiträger.

Production begins around 14 days before the holiday. For 1000 Newweling, 3000 meters of wax cord in five colors (red, white, green, blue and yellow) are required. On the drawing machine, 200 meters of wick can be clamped in at once and pulled through a tub with the liquid wax until the thickness of three millimeters is reached. When the wax cords have cooled down, the winding work begins, whereby the cords are wrapped around a wooden cone by hand in just under a minute. For the so-called show and collector's copies, a school bag is used as a wrap , which remains underneath for stability.

  • Drawing machine

  • Drum with white strings

  • Drum with white strings and a red wax tub

  • The wick is sunk into the wax tub

  • red wax cords cool down on the roll

  • Wax cords are unrolled from the drum

  • Wax cords are unrolled from the drum

  • Wrap

  • four-colored Newweling when placed on the wooden cone

  • four-colored Newweling when placed on the wooden cone

  • Almost finished Newweling on wooden cone

Use and handling

Newweling reared on a stick for a procession . The sheet serves as a drip protection. The wick must be pulled upwards by the wearer as it burns.

The Newweling is only available in Mainz. It is used on All Souls 'Day and All Saints' Day in processions , placed on graves and also lit in Mainz Cathedral .

It is wound up and around a stick before lighting: “... there you twist the cords and wind them individually around a stick or a small branch and light the wicks. You keep the stick in your hand or stick it in the ground, ... Some people also put the whole Newweling on the grave and light the top wick, ... Then there is a big flame and the Newweling burns down in a short time. "

In stories from old Mainz , Prelate Adam Gottron writes :

“The boys never came to the church service as punctually as they did for poor soul prayer in the cathedral. On the way they compared the size and shape of the wax thread roll and boasted that their own burns the brightest and the longest. "

- Adam Gottron

The Newweling is not suitable for burning in lanterns or in closed rooms.

music

In the third verse of the song “Määnz remains Määnz” (text: Karl Schramm ) it says: “I want to go where Newweling duhn burn,” translated as: I want to go where Newweling [do] burn.

similarities

There are similarities to the wax stick , some of which is still widespread in Bavaria today, and the Jewish hawdala candle .

See also

The Haddekuche , a crumbly spicy biscuit in the shape of a rhombus, was also sold to All Souls 'Day and All Saints' Day by pretzel sellers in front of the cemeteries until a few years ago.

literature

  • Karl Schramm : Mainz Dictionary . Verlag Hermann Schmidt, Mainz 2003, ISBN 3-87439-651-7 , p. 123.
  • Marlene Hübel: “Newwelinge and Haddekuche”. In: Necropolis Moguntia, on the power of finitude, place of silence. / 2000 years of the Sacred Valley, 200 years of the Mainz Aureus, Vitruvius. P. 397.
  • Ursula Pfistermeister: wax folk art and custom - a book for collectors and lovers of old things. Volume 1, Verlag Hans Carl, Nuremberg 1982, ISBN 3-418-00468-7 .
  • Beate Rakowski-Sudrow: "Newwelinge". In: Historians and poets from Meenz - hand uff's heart. Fachverlag Fraund, pp. 21–22.
  • General newspaper Mainz
  • Round and colorful in the Mittelbayerische Zeitung on October 29, 2007
  • Hildruth Schaubruch: Like a pointed hat - the legendary Newweling. In: Mainz. Quarterly issues for culture, politics, economics, history . Number 1st year 1991. Verlag H. Schmidt Mainz, p. 21, ISSN  0720-5945

Web links

Commons : Newweling  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Marlene Hübel; P. 397
  2. ↑ a b Ursula Pfistermeister; P. 98
  3. ^ Karl Schramm; P. 123.
  4. ↑ Hildruth Schaubruch; P. 21.
  5. ↑ Alexandra Klein: Two families keep the tradition - What would All Saints' Day be without »Newweling«? / Sage twines itself around the colorful cone. Mainzer Zeitung: October 31 / April 1 November 1995.
  6. ↑ Do you know Newwelinge? Press release on openpr.de from the candle guild (Bavarian Wax Drawing Guild / Federal Guild) of October 29, 2008.
  7. ↑ Colorful All Saints' Day Tradition - Will the Newweling from Mainz die out soon? ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Alice Gundlach, in Der Mainzer; Issue 253 from October 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dermainzer.net
  8. ↑ Ursula Pfistermeister; P. 95 and p. 98.