Vielliebchen (customs)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Vielliebchen is a nut with exceptionally two kernels (usually almond or hazelnut) or another unusually double-kerned fruit. The expression is related to the custom of sharing your darling with another person when you find such a fruit and “betting”: The one who greets the other first with the sentence “Good morning, darling” wins the next morning. The other has a little present to give him.

The expression is derived from the Lithuanian word filibas for “couple” and has nothing to do with the German meaning “a lot of love” or something similar. The Grimm dictionary (Leipzig, from 1854; quoted by the Society for German Language ) reports on variants of the expression in French and English in the Scandinavian languages. In the respective countries, the much-loved custom is also cultivated.

The Oeconomische Encyclopädie (1773-1858) by JG Krünitz describes the game as follows: Around 1820 the habit emerged of having fun meals in which men and women partook when one found a double almond in a bowl among the cracked almonds during dessert to eat each other, where then the one of the two who, after the supper was lifted, or from the next day on, addressed the other first with: “Good morning, darling!”, had to receive a small present from the other.

As a variant of the competition, there is also the “Much love for give and take”, whereby the couple must immediately say “I'm thinking of it!” About the completion of a task - or when a certain word occurs at the opponent. If this is forgotten and the other part then says: “Good morning, darling!”, The bet is lost.

The darling in literature

Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872) wrote the poem Die Viel-Liebchen (Philippchen) of the double almond , with which he is said to have paid a Vielliebchen betting debt . The poem is written from the perspective of the darling (" twin children of a stem, two siblings of a bowl, we lie snuggled together ") and interprets them " as a symbol of true love, as a symbol of firm loyalty ". But even those who eat from it come together again and again and " Can never rely ": " Do you ever see two embracing, Who shared the double fruit, Think, it is not themselves, Not the people who kiss, The many- Sweethearts kiss. "

In the novel Komtesse Käthe (published 1894) by Eufemia von Adlersfeld-Ballestrem (1854-1941), Käthe, who pretends to be Miss Knickerbocker, shares a double almond with the Prince of Riedland, whom she believes to be the orderly officer. They agree to be on the terms of each other. Because the prince sucks again shortly afterwards, he later sends her a precious present from Berlin.

In Theodor Fontane's (1819–1898) old age novel Der Stechlin (1895–1897) the canoness Frau von Schmargendorf eats a little love from two "plums that have grown together", which she has kept in a cabbage leaf, together with Captain von Czako. This shortest episode serves to characterize the different milieus in which Dubslav von Stechlin and his sister, Domina Adelheid, live. Different milieus also play a role in Fontane's novel Irrungen Wirrungen : Baron Botho von Rienäcker, plagued by financial worries, leaves his lover, the simple girl Lene, to marry his wealthy cousin Käthe von Sellenthin and at the same time live up to his class. On one of the last cheerful and subtly amorous excursions with Lene, they also play the said game.

In 1985 the story Guten Morgen, Vielliebchen by Robert Kraft first appeared in the magazine, in which the multi-love game is the focus of a romantic love story and mistake.

In 1990 Anna Langhoff published a volume of poetry with the title Vielliebchen in Amman Verlag , on the cover of which the poem with the same title is shown.

supporting documents

  1. What is a darling? on gfds.de
  2. Described e.g. B. by Alban von Hahn, in “Traffic in Good Society” , pp. 211–214.
  3. ^ Grillparzer: Die Viel-Liebchen (Philippchen) of the double almond from Franz Grillparzer: Complete works. Volume 1, Munich [1960-1965], pp. 126-127. printed on zeno.org
  4. Eufemia von Adlersfeld-Ballestrem, Countess Käthe, Roman, Rosenheim (Meister Verlag) no year, pp. 126-131, p. 159
  5. Thomas Braatz: Emil Robert Kraft (1869-1916). Bibliography illustrated in color. Leipzig & Vienna, 2006, p. 19.
  6. ^ Anna Langhoff: Much love . Ammann-Verlag, Zurich 1990. ISBN 3-2500-1032-4