It happened still in the good old days, perhaps on a Kerweih, or at one of those big weddings. Vetter ('cousin') Michl in Schanndrhaas (Alexanderhausen) once again had visitors from another village. They went to church and then strolled through the Rondell (round market place in the center of Alexanderhausen) to take a good  look at everything.

In the evening, after supper, Vetter Michl and his visitors, Vetter Hanns and his people, were still sitting around the kitchen table, enjoying a few glasses of wine. Then Vetter Hanns said: "Listen, Mischko, what is that hat doing on top of your church, mounted on that support between the two steeples? There must be a story behind that? "

Vetter Michel, who was well known as a storyteller, agreed: “Yes, sure, there is good story behind that, and I am going to tell it to you right now. As you know, our village of Schanndrhaas was only built in 1833. People came from the surrounding villages, from Billed and Bugarisch (Bogarosch), from Grawatz (Grabatz) and Tribbswettr (Triebswetter), even from Lenauheim, which was still called Tschaddad (Csatad) in those days. They had to build their own houses, and they managed to do it, because all their relatives came to help. After they finished their houses and moved in, they wanted a church. You know: What is a Swabian village without a church?

It goes without saying that they wanted to build their church in the Rondell, but they could not agree, in which quarter of the Rondell to place it. One day, the Richter (reeve or mayor) and the representatives held a meeting in the village hall, to determine the place of the church. Once again they failed to reach an agreement. When evening came, they went to the main village inn to get something to eat and to drink. Later on, when they left the inn, everybody was in a pretty good mood. The Richter removed the hat from his head and said: "People, I am going to throw my hat way up in the air, and wherever it falls down, there is the spot on which God wants us to build his church.

The hat fell down in the middle of the highway, exactly where the main street crosses the street towards Ujhel and the street towards Warjasch. At first, the representatives argued that one could not build a church smack in the middle of that street, because it was a segment of the main paved highway between the cities of Temeswar and Szeged. But the Richter persuaded them, the church was built, and the highway had to make a detour around the church.

Because the Richter's hat had helped them to finally find the best place for their church, the people decided that it should find its permanent place up there between the two steeples.”

Vetter Hanns liked the story, and everybody went to bed. Next morning, when Hanns had just hitched his horses to his carriage, Vetter Michl told him: "Hanns, I sure hope you did not take that story about the hat seriously? The truth is that the metal hat is part of the coat of arms of our erstwhile noble landlord, Alexander of Alagowitsch, then bishop of Agram (Zagreb). The big hat is a bishop’s hat and the eight tassels on each side indicate that he was quite an important bishop. The mitra and crozier are religious identifications. And the white coat of arms says something about his noble family."

As I write down the story of Vetter Michl, I would like to just add that in that coat of arms the sun is rising in the East, and the crescent moon is descending in the West, just like in our Danube-Swabian coat of arms (meaning that the Turkish occupation is over and Austria reigns). And the crow, the one with the ring in its beak, is called Corvus in Latin. It could be that the family of our bishop rose to nobility under the Corvin kings - that is not impossible.

***

The original version of this article was written in the “schwowische” dialect of Alexanderhausen and published in the biweekly newspaper “Banater Post”, Nr.23-24, of December 10, 2010. The English translation was done by the author.

Nick Tullius 2011.01.14

 

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