Pentecostal tradition

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"On Pentecost morning"

The Pentecost tradition is understood to mean customs that are practiced on the festival of Pentecost . According to its historical origins a harvest festival , Whitsun in Europe either reflects the events handed down in the Bible or it has seasonal references as a spring custom . While celebrations such as Christmas or Easter have a great wealth of customs, relatively few customs have developed in connection with Pentecost.

Origins

Today's Pentecost parade in France

Customs from pre-Christian times and in some cases practiced up to the present day, which have to do with the ritual replacement of winter with a new growth period, are often considered in connection with the Christian Pentecost festival. This is because many Christian holidays have replaced former pagan festivals in the course of Christianization . Correspondingly, secular customs were dressed in a “Christian” garment, postponed or attached to Christian festivals; an example of this are the “Pentecostal fighters” and associated equestrian games. They have their origins in military shows like those carried out in ancient Rome on March 1st (the beginning of the new calendar year and the warm season). In the north of the Alps, however, they did not take place until May 1st due to the later start of the warm season. Since the church endeavored to integrate these military events into the church festival group, the only option was to include them in the neighboring Whitsun festival due to the lack of religious references. The secular tournaments were a thorn in the side of the church representatives. A papal ban in the early 14th century led on the one hand that the tournaments on the Shrovetide were laid on the other hand, the military parades conversion to tab processions or Umritte learned.

Whitsun singing (Heischeusgang with singing) in the Bergisches Land

Another example of a Pentecostal custom, which takes up the Christian idea of ​​the festival and connects it with the appearance of a pagan vegetation figure, can be found in some villages on the upper Danube. The custom practiced up to the present day is a so-called “ Heischeumgang ”, in which the “Pfingstl” or “ Latzmann ” goes from house to house and asks for gifts. While the “Latzmann” in Volkersheim is a figure completely wrapped in straw, in other places the “Pfingstl” covered with vegetal green (mostly coniferous branches) are on the move. These myths imitate an act that goes back to a saying of Jesus in the Bible: “He who asks will be given; he who seeks finds; whoever knocks will be opened ”. In this custom, the figure, wrapped in a natural robe, does not represent the pre-Christian god of vegetation, but the sinful and unbelieving pagan who asks for the Holy Spirit . Only when he takes off his disguise after asking for a gift can he return to the village community in his true form - free from sin. In the Palatinate and Alsace , the children wander through the village at Whitsun with the Whitsun quack , a decorated handcart, and receive eggs, bacon or money.

Church Pentecostal tradition

In the "Calvary Episcopal Church" in Rochester, Minnesota , balloons symbolize the tongues of fire

According to the Acts of the Apostles , the Holy Spirit - visible through tongues of fire - was revealed on Pentecost. In some churches these were represented by red petals falling from the vault. Pentecost fires, which are mostly lit in southern Germany, are considered a sign of enlightenment and a symbol for the Holy Spirit. A special custom in connection with fire was maintained in the Salzburger Land. There, in many churches from the so-called “ Heiliggeistloch ”, burning flakes of tow were scattered on the churchgoers and caught by the men in their hats. These "flakes" should protect against storms. The Pentecost candle on the breakfast table also belongs in this context. Each family member can light their own candle on it and place it in front of them.

Holy spirit dove in the parish church of Gmünd in Carinthia

A medieval Pentecostal custom was the so-called "Heilig-Geist-Schwingen", in which living doves were released in the church, a wooden dove circled over the heads of the believers on a string at the Pentecost high mass or a carved dove was let down through an opening in the church ceiling . The congregation received the dove soaring with incense and prayer. In southern Germany people still know how to hang up holy spirit doves in living rooms. The production of stone pine is part of the folk art there.

In Swabia there are still corridors and processions with the Eucharist . The weather blessing , combined with the request for a good harvest, will also be donated. Water should have a special blessing power on Pentecost and Easter. In the course of time, various water customs have therefore developed. So it was common to wash in a stream on Pentecost. This custom is just as reminiscent of the baptismal rite as a similar one from the Basel area. There, young boys or a doll made of straw, fir branches and moss, called "Pfingstlümmel", "Pfingstsprützlig" or "Pfingstblüttlig", were dipped into a village fountain. For a long time Pentecost and Easter were also popular baptism dates. The dew, which fell at Pentecost, was said to have healing properties; it should also protect against freckles and beings.

Secular Pentecostal tradition

"Pinksterkrone" in the Netherlands

Many worldly customs involve conjuring up the growth and fertility of fields and pastures. This includes, for example, the setting up of whit trees that have the same background as the maypoles . In many places, children also sell small Pentecostal bouquets on the roadsides.

Spring or fountain decorations at Whitsun (2019): Eg "Unterer" or "Lindenbrunnen", opposite Niederweiler town hall (Müllheim)

There is also a tradition of decorating springs or village fountains with flowers and twigs, sometimes with birch trunks on which colored ribbons and chains with blown and colored eggs hang, as well as corresponding Pentecost fountain festivals, which can be traced back to the Germanic worship of spring and fountain spirits. Houses, churches, stables and cars are also decorated with green birch branches and flowers at Pentecost. The freestyle of a Pentecost or May Queen or a May King, hall rides or Whitsun steps also belong to this category.

Since the cattle are driven out for the first time at Pentecost, it is also the feast of the shepherds. Boys dressed in foliage (“ Pentecost ”) are shown around, embodying the new growth spirits. In rural areas, the cattle are wreathed and in some cases there is still a Pentecostal ox . Adorned with flowers, wreaths and ribbons, he leads the cattle in procession through the village and then out to pasture. Until the 19th century it was customary to slaughter the ox for the subsequent Whitsun meal.

There are also some local customs in which a Pentecostal human appears in the shape of a tree. This is how the “Pfeistsprutz” or “Pfingstsprützlig” goes around in the Swiss towns of Sulz and Gansingen ( Fricktal ) on Pentecost Sunday. During an hour-long ritual , a young man is transformed into a tree by being wrapped in beech leaves and branches from head to toe. Supported by two helpers, he returns to the village as a symbolic representation of a vegetation deity, where he whips the water from the village well and splashes the bystanders with it. This is also a fertility and growth cult with the request for a good harvest. Figures related in nature can be found in Romania ("Green George"), in Carinthia ("Hans im Grünen"), in England ("Mary Gipsy") and as May Queen or Pentecost King in Germany to Scandinavia.

It is an original defense spell if objects are adjusted or other jokes are carried out in the night from Pentecost Sunday to Monday. The significance of this custom need not be aware of those who hang up garden gates or do anything else - pranks are considered allowed that night.

Local customs

  • We have survived dance events and Whitsun games by Friedrich I. Barbarossa in Mainz (1184) . There is talk of real drinking bouts with plenty of Whitsun beer.
  • Despite several bans, Whitsun singing (first mentioned in 1574) has survived in the Bergisches Land to this day .
  • One of the oldest surviving Whitsun customs is the “dirty pig festival” in the Mansfelder Grund in the Mansfeld region . It goes back to pre-Christian times and includes the expulsion of winter through summer. The oldest evidence of the custom is in the parish register of the Hergisdorf community and dates back to 1620.
  • Water bird singing was first mentioned in 1899; it is a motto with symbolic baptism that is still practiced today in the lower Bavarian Forest .
  • In Bohemia , on the evening before Pentecost, children put coltsfoot leaves in front of the door, on which they found a Pentecost pretzel in the morning.
  • In some areas of Germany (mainly between Siegerland and Thuringia ) the Maimann goes around, in a few places in the Taunus (for example in Langenbach ) the so-called Laubmann .
  • In many places the regional May custom of the egg crown was moved to Whitsun .
  • Pentecostal tree planting is mainly practiced in Lower Saxony . Here, young birch trees are attached to front doors. Often times, the custom is associated with singing and consuming alcohol.
  • A regional Pentecostal custom exists in the Westphalian city of Oelde . The Whitsun wreath is danced there on Whit Sunday and Whit Monday .
  • Latzmann is a hot custom and mostly common on Whit Monday in Upper Swabia .
  • The custom of the Pentecostal quack is widespread in the Palatinate . In the west of the region the quack, a green figure, is stolen from gorse branches. According to popular belief, the house that does not have a branch of gorse is tormented by misfortune and will burn down in the course of the year. In addition, the branches are said to have protective powers against lightning strikes if they are hung in the attic. Elsewhere, the Whitsun quack is understood as a group of young people who roam the village and receive eggs, cakes or coins from the residents after they have said a saying. Usually several so-called quack groups competed against each other: The decisive factor is the amount of gifts stolen.
In addition, so-called Pentecostal trees used to be set up in some villages in the Northern Palatinate: These are conifers that were cut in the forest by the young boys in the village and set up next to the village bar the night before Pentecost. Branches were often cut off from this tree to decorate the inn. The rest of the village was also decorated with garlands, because on the second day of Pentecost (Whit Monday) there were festive dance events in the villages. Finally, the Pentecostal tree was auctioned off to a villager who turned it into wooden objects, e.g. B. a ladder, processed. With the proceeds of the auction, the boys who "laboriously" felled the tree were given beer as a reward.
  • In Styria , a Whitsun lotter is put in front of the door of unmarried girls in some places on Whit Monday . With this straw doll ( Lotter is Styrian for man ), a woman unwilling to marry should be made aware that it was finally time to get under the hood.
  • The cheese king of Bad Dürkheim and the billy goat auction in Deidesheim go back to centuries-old Pentecostal legal customs ; in the former, a citizen's son who was elected “king” collected the interest from the residents of Dürkheimer Bruch for grazing rights, which was mostly paid for in the form of cheese; in the latter case, the municipality of Lambrecht had to hand over a billy goat to the city of Deidesheim every year for grazing rights.

Customs as cultural heritage

The Pentecostal tradition in the basic villages of the Mansfelder Grund-Helbra community is applying for recognition as an intangible cultural heritage by Unesco in 2014. In 2013, Germany joined the Unesco Treaty on the Preservation of Customs and Traditions , and in 2014 it made eight applications for the first time.

literature

  • Ernst Christmann: From “May” and “Pentecost” field names and May and Pentecost customs. In: Contributions to field name research. Karlsruhe 1940, OCLC 72098066 , pp. 19-41.
  • Reinhard Abeln, Ursula Harper: The big children's book for the church year. Saints, feasts, namesake. St. Benno-Verlag, Leipzig 2010, ISBN 978-3-7462-2951-5 , p. 64f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e The meaning of trees in Pentecostalism. on WunschBaum.de. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b c d Church customs at Pentecost, Pentecostal custom, custom, Pentecost fire, Pentecost candle. on pfingsten-info.de. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  3. ↑ Latzmann Pentecostal rite ( Memento of the original from February 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on ardmediathek.de. Retrieved February 19, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ardmediathek.de
  4. ↑ a b c d Customs & Customs. on braeuche-sitten.de. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
  5. ↑ a b c Pentecostal tradition. ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on kath.de. Retrieved February 16, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kath.de
  6. ^ Badische Zeitung: Bunter Brunnenschmuck is a joint effort - Sulzburg - Badische Zeitung. Retrieved June 21, 2019 .
  7. ↑ MBB: Decorating the village fountain at Pentecost. In: Südbadisches Medienhaus. May 3, 2016, accessed on June 21, 2019 (German).
  8. ↑ a b c Pentecost - What is behind it, customs & more. on Familien-welt.de. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  9. ↑ The Pentecostal singers of the AggerChor Loope are coming! ( Memento from February 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on aggerchor.de. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  10. ↑ Customs. at the dirty pig festival - the original in Hergisdorf. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  11. ↑ Customs at Pentecost. on christliche Geschenkideen.de. Retrieved February 19, 2014.
  12. ↑ Folklore Europaea. In: www.folklore-europaea.org. Retrieved July 18, 2016 .
  13. ↑ Whit Monday
  14. ↑ Roland Paul : The Quack and other customs at Pentecost . In: Jürgen Keddigkeit (Hrsg.): Festivals and festivals in the Palatinate . Kaiserslautern 1992, ISBN 3-927754-03-X , p. 159 .
  15. ↑ Customs - Chess Village, Cattle and Saltworkers: Eight Applications for World Heritage. in: Focus online. dated December 2, 2014.