Echternach dance procession is an annual annual Catholic dance procession held at Echternach, in eastern Luxembourg. Echternach's is the last traditional dance procession in Europe.
The procession is held every Whit Tuesday around the streets of Echternach. It honors Willibrord, the patron saint of Luxembourg, who founded the Echternach Monastery. Echternach has developed a powerful, processor-centered tourism industry that attracts thousands of tourists and pilgrims from around the world. This procession was written in 2010 as a procession perch on Echternach on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Video Dancing procession of Echternach
Procession
The event begins in the morning on the bridge over the Sauer River, with a sermon delivered by the parish priest (previously by the abbot). Officials "Willibrordus-Brauverein" composed the procession, forming several dozen groups of musicians and pilgrims in turn. The procession then moves through the city streets to the basilica, a distance of about 1.5 kilometers (0.93 mi). While the musicians play the traditional "SprangprozessioÃÆ'¹n" tune-melodies, not entirely different from Irish rhythms or rolls, which have been handed down for centuries - pilgrims, in rows of four or five parallel and holding the tips of a white handkerchief, "dancing" or "jump" from left to right and slowly move forward. Due to the number of pilgrims present, well after noon before the last dancer reaches the church. A large number of priests, nuns, and monks also accompany the procession, and not infrequently there are several bishops as well. Upon arriving at the church, the dance continued through the tomb of Saint Willibrord, which stands underground beneath the high altar. Litanies and prayers in the honor of the Saint are recited, and the event concludes with a sacrament prayer.
In the past, the dance procession has adopted another form. At one stage the pilgrims will advance three steps and retreat two steps, so take five steps to advance one step; at another stage the pilgrims will stop repeatedly upon hearing the bell donated by Emperor Maximilian, falling to his knees before moving forward a few more steps. Again, pilgrims will crawl under a rock, facing the cross of St. Willibrord. 'Cow-bell dance' usually takes place before the cross, which is established in the market; This dance was banned in 1664.
Maps Dancing procession of Echternach
History
Willibrord's Abbey of Echternach was the main Christian center of the Middle Ages, and retained the famous library and scriptorium. However, he has a modern fame for the procession of ancient dances. This aspect of a saint's cult can be traced back almost to the date of his death; Among the flow of pilgrims to his grave in the monastery church had been the Emperor of Charlemagne, Lothair I, Conrad, and later Maximilian (1512).
Catholic historians are reluctant to regard any pre-Christian predecessor for the dancing procession, and only claim that its origin can not be expressed with certainty. There may be elements of a pagan cult, as criticized by Saint Eligius in the seventh century. The documents of the fifteenth century speak of it as a habit that has long been established at the time, and similar "dance" processions, which usually take place in the small town of Pragma, in the Eifel, are documented early in 1342. The legend is told that associate a dance procession with an avoided outbreak or offer a fable of a condemned barbarian, but a procession of dance to the sacred tomb is an annual ceremony performed as an act of atonement in the name of a suffering relationship and especially to prevent epilepsy, Saint Vitus Dance, or convulsions.
This procession takes place every year without rest until 1777. There is an easy relationship with the hierarchy of the church; in 1777, the music and dancing of the 'saints dancing' was banned by Archbishop Wenceslas, who declared that there should be only a pilgrim's procession, and, in 1786, the Emperor Joseph II abolished the procession altogether. The attempt was made to revive ten years later, and, although the French Revolution effectively prevented it, it resumed in 1802, and has continued since then. In 1826, the government tried to convert the day to Sunday, but, since 1830, it always happened to Whit Tuesday, a traditional day which, significantly, had no direct connection with St Willibrord himself.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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