LL-L "Traditions" 2004.11.22 (02) [E/German]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 22.NOV.2004 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From:  "Franz Firla" f.firla at web.de
To:  "R. F. Hahn" <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject:  Vögelchen-Hanse

Hallo Ron,

vielen Dank für deine Anmerkungen zu meiner Verbreitungstheorie. Du hast
sicherlich Recht, was die Gefahr der Überbewertung heutiger
Textüberlieferungen in Bezug auf die ursprüngliche Verbreitung
betrifft.Aber man kann ja mal einer Vermutung nachgehen. Die einfache
Gleichsetzung von Katholisch-Martinsfest-Martinslied führt  bei diesem
speziellen Lied jedoch in die Irre. Heischelieder wurden zu sehr
verschiedenen Anlässen gesungen, hier wird  der Anlaß "Sinter Mätes" einfach
nur übergestülpt. der Zweck, nämlich das Erbetteln von Süßigkeiten usw.,
sozusagen "geheiligt".

Und Liedforscher im Rheinland und Westfalen bestätigen sogar, dass das
Vögelchen-Lied in rein katholischen Gebieten so gut wie ausgestorben
ist.Das hat evtl.mit den germanisch-heidnischen Wurzeln zu tun, die der
katholischen Kirche nicht gefielen.

Dennoch weiß man natürlich nicht, wie es damit in vorreformatorischer Zeit
war.

Besten Dank

Franz

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Traditions

Folks,

The general gist of Franz' response (above) to my note of caution is that,
while he accepts my point that clustered preservation of the Martinmas song
tradition in the predominantly Roman Catholic Lower Rhine area may in part
be explained by its survival from pre-Reformation times, he submits that
focussing on this could also lead one astray, given that the Catholic church
did not approve of this song tradition either, be it that it could be seen
as merely sanctifying door-to-door begging (trick-o'-treating) and is likely
to have its roots in pre-Christian traditions.

I believe Franz makes a valid point.  However, I maintain that, even under
the stated circumstances, a song tradition supposedly centered around a
saint has far better survival chances in Roman Catholic society than in
Protestant society; at least it did in pre-modern times.  The Roman Catholic
church may not have approved of the continuation of such traditions, but we
know that, despite inquisitions and other forms of persecution, many
non-Christian and popular traditions have endured in officially Roman
Catholic societies, even if only by sometimes extreme adaptation, disguise
and secrecy.

Why, we know that in the process of Christianization the Roman Catholic
church itself deliberately participated in this process by usurping Celtic,
Wicca, Germanic, Slavonic and other "pagan" traditions and places of
worship, integrating and adapting them to facilitate the transition.
Christian Protestant societies have undergone some far more drastic
"purification" processes in the course of their history. These are processes
on top of pre-Protestant processes, where everything even vaguely "papist"
was thrown out and banned.  This included many of the "trappings," the
"cults," certainly anything like the worship of Mary and saints,
irrespective of their true origin.  This is so particularly in what are now
Germany and the Netherlands, less far-reaching in the less populated and
accessible Scandinavian, Baltic and Finnic "outbacks," less far-reaching
also in Anglican Britain.  This "purification" process was certainly very
strong in more purist, puritan Protestant communities.

Even though in the predominantly Protestant general Hamburg area we children
used to walk around with laterns on fall nights and also did
trick-o'-treating on New Year's Eve, we did not connect this with St. Martin
or with any other saint, though it may have come down to us by way of the
St. Martin tradition (which may be based on pre-Christian traditions).  Many
people did not even connect the latern processions with any specific day,
though I vaguely remember that there was a special evening on which you felt
you *had* to "walk the latern."  We did sing special songs, but none
mentioned St. Martin.  The same goes for the "begging" traditions on New
Year's Eve.  I understand that in some predominant Protestant areas a
certain Martin is or used to be mentioned, but popular belief has it that
this is about Martin Luther, the father of Reformation.

In the light of a possible or rather likely pre-Christian origin of the
Martinmas song tradition, I am rather curious to know what the current
theories are regarding "St. Martins birds."  I have done some casual (as
well as undergraduate) research on the bird theme and have noticed
bird-and-feather-tradition connections throughout Eurasia and the Americas.
It seems like a common theme, like a very ancient, Shamanist thread that
connects perhaps the majority of the world's people with each other.   But,
of course, there is always the possibility that we are merely dealing with a
chain of coincidents.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron



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