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The Eve before . .
.
January
6th 'Three King's
Day'
Kasper,
Melcher, Balthazar
by Alex Leeb
New Year is barely
over before a new holiday arrives.
January
6th,
the feast of the Holy Three Kings, was
celebrated in church each year.
The evening before, the "Three Holy Kings" went
around the village signing. (As far as the
custom existed.) They always sang the "Holy
Three Kings song." Usually three girls or three
boys did that. These last ones were dressed so
that nobody could recognize them.
They wore make-up on their faces. On their heads
they had funny paper hats which were decorated
with different oriental figures. Two wore a
white dress; the third a black one. The one in
black was wearing a crown. He held a stick with
a turning star. The other two accompanied him so
that nobody had to be afraid. They went from
house to house and asked to be allowed to enter.
After they entered they positioned themselves
and sang; "We Holy Three Kings with the star, we
come and look for the Lord . . ." etc.
After the song, the middle king in black said:
"The star, the star has to go around, we still
have to seek other ground." Then they received
some money, Upon leaving, they sang a verse of
thanks. If they did not received anything, they
sang a mocking verse.
Each group of three tried to sing their best.
They wanted to be best and be praised. They
always debated on the street what to do and what
not to do.
At the end of their endeavor they always went
back to the house where they had dressed up.
Soon they had their own clothes on, were washed
up and no longer wore make-up. Now all the money
earned through the singing was put on the table
and divided up. What a nice result! Happy but
tired they went home. Next day they went to
church service. They "Holy Three Kings" day was
celebrated just like every Sunday.
Here are a few village verses by their dialect.
Bogarosch (dialect) - (Stefan Heim)
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King
Kasper I am called,
I carry the sword
in my hand.
Sword and riches I want
to leave behind,
Should I hate Jesus
the king?
Shouldn't he be king,
He
who lets me into heaven? |
Der König
Kaspar bin ich genannt,
ich trag das
Schwert in meiner Hand.
Schwert und
Reich will ich verlassen,
Soll ich
den König Jesum hassen?
Soll er nicht auch König
sein,
der mich lasst in Himmel ein? |
[Published at
DVHH.org 2006 by Jody McKim Pharr]
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