Holiday Cross

Tourist cross near Annaberg (Lower Austria) on the Via Sacra to Mariazell

A holiday cross (also holiday cross , holiday chapel or holiday marterl ) is a field cross , a wayside shrine or a small chapel that is erected at the point where the pilgrims gathered before their pilgrimage . Most of the time, they were accompanied by their families and other villagers or said goodbye there.

The term holiday cross is derived from the fact that in earlier times the pilgrims had to obtain a "permit" from their employers in order to be allowed to leave. In Middle High German, this meant asking for “urloub” (vacation).

As a motif for such wayside shrines or chapels, the parting of Christ from Mary , the "vacationers group", is sometimes depicted. However, this can also be about wayside shrines in connection with a way of the cross , such as in Kirchberg am Wechsel .

Web links

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Individual evidence

1. ↑ The large art dictionary by PW Hartmann , accessed on February 7, 2017.
2. ^ Christian Stadelmann, Werner Grand: Around the Hochschwab . Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2000, ISBN 9783866805866 .
3. ^ Fabian Bross: Basic course in German linguistics for the Bavarian state examination. Gunter Narr , Tübingen 2014, p. 176.