Rau(c)hnacht - Geschichten_en_v3

''Smoke Nights'' during „The Twelve Days"

The harvest is especially subject to the whims of nature and the elements. Based on that fact, one obviously had to trust in the providence of God for the protection of house and home as well as  all the animals and supplies. To keep difficulties at bay, particularly for the residential and farm buildings, they were blessed on ''smoke nights'' with lashings of incense and holy water. Needless to say, the children were always included. If it had anything to do with fire, then voluntarily! But due to the high inflammability of the supplies of hay and straw, great caution was required when handling burning embers in the barns!

To assure good embers for the smoking, the wood stove was stoked thoroughly. We fished out the coals with a poker and put them into an old metal bucket, which hopefully didn't have any holes. A packet of blessed incense was always in the house. Once sprinkled on the coals, it smelled wonderfully Oriental and just like Christmas. With the swinging bucket and a bottle of Holy water in hand, we children marched along with our father and purified the whole place.

First we went to the stables which were attached to the house. Some splashes of Holy water and a good dose of incense, accompanied by an Our Father (Lord’s Prayer), provided the necessary means of protection. Continuing to the adjacent pigsty (they thought that was pretty strange), we passed through the barn and ended up in the cow shed.

Of course, each stop was extensively smoked and blessed with Holy water and a prayer. Our round ended back in the house with the rest of the smoke and the Holy water, where the now extinguished embers, having lost their pretty glow, were returned to the stove. Thus the year could now take its course, protected by the blessing of God.

Written down on November 25, 2012 by Johann Wiesheu (*1965), Munich
Translation by Maximilian Grötsch and Peggy Chong

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