Dear light

Wedding light in a turnip

As Traulicht ( Luxembourgish : "Trauliicht" or "Rauliicht"; Moselle Franconian : "Trouliecht"; Lorraine (Franconian) : "Drauliht" or "Tröhlit") lanterns carved from fodder beet (" Rummel ") are referred to in the Moselle Franconian area .

The Trouliechtern or maid of light burning is a tradition that in the villages until the early 20th century southern Eifel and northern Luxembourg ( Ösling was widespread). Instead of a pumpkin, a fodder beet is hollowed out and carved. A tea light or a candle is placed inside .

Word origin

Probably Traulicht is derived from Druglicht . The term from the legendary world describes lights that light up over moors and mislead hikers. The word Traulicht is also listed in the German dictionary of the Brothers Grimm . As an explanation a derivative of the Old German word illusion light is given, which in turn for the wisp is.

Origin of the Customs

The custom is located around the feast of All Saints' Day and St. Martin's Day and had its origins in driving away the evil spirits brought into the stables by grazing cattle during the summer months. The wedding light is set up in the alleys, on the doorstep or on window sills.

In some places, such as Munshausen in Luxembourg , the carved lights are carried through the village in a torchlight procession at night on weekends and are supposed to drive away the evil autumn and winter spirits. The wedding light is attached to a wooden boy and taken with it during the cow drive. According to tradition, when the cows walk through the barn door between the wedding lights, they remain disease-free and the ghosts that were in the barn during the summer would be driven away.

The custom was never completely extinct in the southern Eifel and the Ösling . Because of the conversion of the cultivation to silage maize, fodder beet was grown less and less in the region from the 1970s onwards. For several years, however, many communities and the Eifelverein have been reviving the custom , presumably against the backdrop of the increasingly popular Halloween . The candlelight burn, which has almost been forgotten, is being celebrated again more and more in Luxembourg villages. The wedding light weeks in Munshausen which are celebrated in the Robbesscheier open-air museum are particularly popular .

See also

• Beet spirits

literature

• Nikolaus Gredt: Treasure of Legends of the Luxembourg Country , Hofenberg, Berlin 2013 (Chapter 4)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Raul layer , on engelmann.uni.lu (Luxembourg dictionary 1950-77) . Retrieved November 2, 2015.
2. ↑ Bitburger Mundart Trouliecht , (Bitburger Mundart). Retrieved November 2, 2015.
3. ↑ Eifellexikion Trouliecht , (Eifel dialect). Retrieved December 16, 2015.
4. ↑ Drauliht , on wörterbuchnetz.de (Dictionary of the German-Lorraine dialects 1909) . Retrieved December 16, 2015.
5. ↑ Wedding week (Halloween) . Retrieved October 29, 2015.
6. ↑ Luxemburger Illustrierte Nr. 2 , on luxemburgensia.bnl.lu . Retrieved November 21, 2015.
7. ↑ The ghosts I called on tageblatt.lu . Retrieved October 29, 2015.
8. ↑ Traulicht , on engelmann.uni.lu (Lexicon of the Luxembourg colloquial language 1847) . Retrieved November 1, 2015.
9. ↑ Trauliicht , on engelmann.uni.lu (Luxembourg dictionary 1950-77) . Retrieved November 1, 2015.
10. ↑ Raulicht , on useldeng.lu (legends from Useldingen ) . Retrieved November 2, 2015.
11. ↑ Traulicht und Truglicht , on woerterbuchnetz.de (German dictionary by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm) . Retrieved October 31, 2015.
12. ↑ Joachim Schröder: Legend of Saint Martin . In: Joachim Schröder: Perpetual Eifel farmers and house calendar . Sutton-Verlag, Erfurt 2008, ISBN 978-3-86680-375-6 . Reproduced in: Customs from October to December ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). In: www.pruemnetz.de . Computer corner, Marita Geister, called and received on November 1, 2017.
13. ↑ The ghosts I called on tageblatt.lu . Retrieved October 29, 2015.
14. ↑ Trouliechter from beets in Welschbillig , Trierischer Volksfreund accessed on November 21, 2015
15. ↑ Trouliechter a Matzen , Bitburg-Mazem website, accessed on November 1, 2015
16. ↑ Carved rumblings keep ghosts away: 60 children make handicrafts from fodder beets Trouliechter , Trierischer Volksfreund of October 31, 2015, page 11
17. ↑ October 24th - November 6th: Traulichtwochen  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Retrieved October 29, 2015.