Pentecost tree plants

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"On Pentecost morning" picture from the magazine Die Gartenlaube from 1886

The Pentecostal tree planting is a special form of the Pentecostal tradition . It is also known as May setting .

Illustration by the Polish painter Michał Elwiro Andriolli for the Whitsun festival

regional customs

The planting of the Whitsun tree, also known as “Whitsun May”, is handled very differently from region to region. However, freshly cut young birch trees or birch twigs with their delicate green spring leaves always play a central role . The green jewelery from the forest is also called " dat Mai " for short .

Often brightly colored ribbons made of crepe paper are tied into the fresh may green . The birch twigs or trunks are tied to the house or an entrance door or symbolically planted there. If there are trusses , they are nailed to the beam .

Regionally, the village maypole is not set up on May 1st, but as a “Pentecost tree” on Whitsun.

distribution

Pentecostal tree planting has been practiced as a tradition in many places in Lower Saxony , but also elsewhere in Germany and also in Central and Northern Europe. For the most part, groups or associations cultivate this tradition, which can be traced back to the time of Christianization , but which is probably much older.

Schmuckmaien

May green is used as a house ornament at Pentecost. Inner courtyards and interiors of churches or inns are also decorated with Whitsun May on this day.

Melody of the hymn: Decorate the festival with May

The use of birch greens as jewelry Maien found its way into a hymn line of the Pentecostal hymn adorns with cords .

Branch of a birch tree decorated with crepe paper

Liebesmaien

On the night of Pentecost Sunday, the young people put the young birch trunks of their loved ones in front of the front door or fasten them to their room window from a ladder in a sometimes dangerous way. By the morning of Pentecost Sunday the girls hope to find such an homage from a known or unknown admirer. The affection is rewarded with egg gifts and other delicacies that are consumed on the night of Pentecost when baking eggs .

May fetching bans

The birch green is usually taken from a nearby forest without having a permit. In order to avert forest damage , the authorities issued bans that applied to both the state forest and the farm forests . However, they seem to have been neglected as they were renewed at short intervals.

Free night

The hustle and bustle of young people in the night on Pentecost Sunday, the so-called free night , often meets with incomprehension among new citizens. Untidy items are rearranged elsewhere. Annoying incidents that occurred in the village or settlement community in the past year are commented on by the young people in a humorous way. If you want to watch the nightly goings-on with curiosity, you have to be careful not to blacken your face. If those affected can smile about what happened the next morning, the joke is particularly successful. For folklorists , this event is part of a right to reprimand , which was also granted to court jesters when they were joking. In the case of adolescents, it functions as a "norm-consolidating" act as they grow up and can thus contribute to their socialization .

Regional differences

Whitsun jewelry over a town entrance in Mechtersen
  • In Mechtersen , a garland of greenery is hung between two birch trees that have been delimbed to the top . The garland is decorated with a crown of leaves.
  • In parts of the Harburg district , it is customary to plant birch trees, especially in front of the houses of long-established citizens.

See also

literature

  • Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann : Folk festivals in Germany . HB-Verlag, Hamburg 1981 (HB-Bildatlas Spezial; 3), p. 107.
  • Otto von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld : The festive year. In manners, customs and festivals of the Germanic peoples. Spamer, Leipzig 1863, pp. 130f.
  • Mechthild Wiswe : Whitsun May in the Salzgitter area . In: Salzgitter yearbook. Edited by the Salzgitter History Association. V., Vol. 21/22, 1999/2000, pp. 154-161, ISSN  0723-757X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ HJ Rach: The life of the working people in the Magdeburger Börde: Study of everyday village life from the beginning of the 20th century to the beginning of the 60s. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1987, p. 181
  2. ↑ Manfred Becker-Huberti : Celebrations, festivals, seasons. Living customs all year round. Herder Verlag, Freiburg 2001 (special edition), ISBN 3-451-27702-6 , pp. 332f.
  3. ↑ Heinrich Adolf Hoops: Sassenart, Lower Saxon folk customs and customs . Angelsachsen-Verlag, Bremen 1922, p. 61
  4. ↑ Whitsun on p. 148 and p. 161 as a digital copy in: The festive year (1863), accessed on March 3, 2019.
  5. ↑ Leopold Friedrich Fredersdorff: Promtuarium the Princely of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel's country-regulation in a substantial excerpt same . Papen, Blankenburg 1775, p. 450 ; Retrieved as a digitized version from the Freiburg University Library on April 14, 2019.
  6. ↑ Werner Flechsig : The birch leaves in the Pentecostal tradition of our homeland . In: Braunschweigische Heimat, vol. 37, H. 1, 1951, p. 8
  7. ^ HJ Rach: The life of the working people in the Magdeburger Börde: Study of everyday village life from the beginning of the 20th century to the beginning of the 60s. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1987, p. 154
  8. ^ Werner Flechsig: Popular custom in the course of the year. In: The district of Blankenburg, administrative district of Braunschweig: official description of the district along with information on spatial planning and a statistical appendix. Bremen-Horn, Dorn 1971, p. 255
  9. ↑ Martin Scharfe : For Rügebrauch . In: Hessische Blätter für Volkskunde, vol. 61, Schmitz, Gießen 1970, pp. 45–68.