The night before Epiphany (January 6th) is considered the last of the mythical nights. It is still customary here and there to smoke out apartments and stables that night. An old experience says that nothing banishes the activities of evil forces better than smoke and smoke. The church also adapted this custom as early as the Middle Ages. The consecrated incense is sprinkled onto an ember pan, which is then used to distribute the smoke throughout the house.
This incense is also practiced by the star singers who are now out and about, asking for a gift and swinging the censer. They use chalk to write a blessing formula on the doors: 20 C + M + B 24. Some read the names of the biblical astrologers Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, while others read the old blessing “Christus mansionem benedicat!”, which translated means: “Christ bless this house!”
The Epiphany tradition goes back to Emperor Barbarossa. After he had the bones of the Three Kings transported from Milan to Cologne in 1164, they became the focus of veneration. The oldest Bavarian evidence of the star singer custom can be found in a Tölz criminal record from 1496, in which it is noted that a fine was imposed on a ruffian who had beaten up a star singer.
Since the start of the campaign in 1959, the star singers have collected a good 1.3 billion euros in donations nationwide, which have been used to support aid projects worldwide. In 2015, “Sternsingen” was included in the nationwide register of intangible cultural heritage. The focus of the Dreikönigssingen 2024 campaign is on young people in the Amazon.
In earlier times without constant media fire, the turn of the year was still full of magic. This mood is wonderfully captured in a photograph by Martin Waldbauer, who will soon be showing the exhibition “Funkloch” at Hengersberg Hospital. It includes photographs full of poetry from remote places in the Bavarian Forest.
Funkloch, photographs by Martin Waldbauer, East Bavaria Art Collection, Passauer Straße 38, 94491 Hengersberg. Opening: Friday, January 12th, 7 p.m. Until March 3rd, Sat/Sun and public holidays 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. (Tel. 0179-1323151).