Weisat

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Weisat or Weisert (probably from the Old High German word " wisod " = gift, according to other sources from Latin " visitare " = to visit) is an old southern German custom, especially for the birth of a child.

The weak verb wîsen, gewîst belonging to wisod ' also lives on in the custom of wisdom as the formal handing over of gifts on certain occasions. In particular, wisdom is the custom of ritual collecting of wedding gifts, which is still alive in parts of Bavaria and Austria as part of a wedding, although as early as 1553, wisdom was forbidden nationwide, only if “ father, mother or other close friend of the Preut people outside What wanted to give or show to the wedding should be of no value to you, ”and the land law of 1616 allowed“ only those of the knighthood, nobility, old families, councilors and doctors ”.

In the Middle Ages the wîsat, wîsot, wîsoede was a voluntary gift in kind that was given to the church or the landlord on certain holidays. Eggs were common at Easter, and cheese at Whitsun and Christmas. This later became a compulsory tax (“ plus 100 pieces of cheese and 12 hunks of Weisat ”), which could also be paid in cash.

The Weisat is therefore primarily the term for the gift for the birth of a child, which could be useful if there was a need for it. In 1947 it was reported from Tyrol, for example, that the neighbors were treated to " cold meat, coffee, rolls and cake" if they brought along "utensils, cloth for a dress, an apron, etc."

From the 19th century developed the Wisat especially in southern Germany and Austria to the Weisat as a custom that the godfather / godmother the young mother visit and their newborn. The visit usually took place in the first few days after the birth. Originally, fortifying foods were brought with them to help the weakened mother relax: an old hen for a hearty soup, eggs, bread, coffee, sugar, wine or mead.

In the South Tyrolean Pustertal the godmother went “to the Weisat” twice, because before the general visit she came “to the Vorweisat” on the third day after the birth, to which she only brought the woman who had recently given birth a crumbly bread and asked how she was .

In many cases it had become customary to only celebrate “the Weisat” when the first child was born, for example in Lower Bavaria , where the child's father then donated a keg of beer, roast and boiled meat at this post-party.

As it were dutifully, however, godparents, relatives, neighbors and other acquaintances in some areas of Tyrol have to bring their presents in a basket (“wise”) a few days after the baptism to the woman who has recently given birth (“wise”), but even there you usually have the duty In Imst in Tyrol there is another special feature: According to tradition, only those who have already been invited to the wedding are obliged to attend the Weisat, and only those who have been invited to the wedding are only obliged to attend the birth of the first child; as thanks for the wedding supper.

A "Weisat" was initially the gifts brought to the childbed, but following this, for a long time, the visit itself, both as a neuter and as a feminine ( to go to Weisat ).

In Upper Bavaria, however, the visit is also referred to as " Weisertweckenfahren ", "Weisatwalking" or "Zum Weisertwalking", because the special gift that is presented to a popular, happy get-together is the Weisertwecken , a wheat pastry whose length depends on the weight of the Newborns are determined: 1 m per half a kilogram.

The custom is also known in Lower Bavaria, Swabia and parts of Austria (especially in Upper Austria and in the Salzburg Pinzgau region ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Andreas Schmeller: Bavarian Dictionary: With a scientific introduction to the Leipzig 1939 edition . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, Berlin 2014, ISBN 3-486-84570-5 ( limited preview in the Google book search). Collection of words and expressions that occur in the living dialects as well as in the older and oldest provincial literature of the Kingdom of Bavaria, especially its older lands, and which are either not used at all in today's general German written language, or not used in the same meanings are
  2. ↑ see e.g. Carl Heinrich von Lang, Regesta sive rerum boicarum , Volume 5, Munich 1836, p. 190
  3. ^ Anton Dörrer and Leopold Schmidt (eds.), "Folklore from Austria and South Tyrol", FS Hermann Wopfner for his 70th birthday, ÖBV, Vienna 1947, p. 37
  4. ^ Johannes Baur, The donation of baptism in the Brixen diocese in the time before the Tridentinum. A study of liturgy, church history and folklore , Univ.-Verlag Wagner, Innsbruck 1938, p. 135
  5. ^ Wilhelm Hansen, Das deutsche Bauerntum: his history and culture , J. Hermann Niermann Verlag, Berlin 1938, vol. 2, p. 189
  6. ↑ Gerhard Heilfurth and Hinrich Siuts (eds.), European cultural entanglements in the area of ​​folk tradition , FS Bruno Schier, publications of the Institute for Central European Folk Research at the Philipps University of Marburg-Lahn: General series vol. 5, Schwartz, Göttingen 1967, p 44
  7. ↑ Reinhard Worschech, "Women's festivals and women's customs in comparative consideration", Diss. Würzburg 1971, p. 194, note 286
  8. ↑ Kulturverein Neuching: Weisertwecken ( Memento from May 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

Web links