Persons born on Emberdays can see ghosts. Kinner uf der Gwatember gebore kenne gschpuker sene. Fogel collected the sayings by word of mouth in fourteen German counties of Pennsylvania, and noted in which county he heard each saying, and whether he was able to locate it in European sources (including manuscript and folklore collections at the universities of Heidelberg, Stuttgart, etc.): The following sayings are from Edwin Fogel’s Beliefs and Superstitions of the Pennsylvania Germans (1915), available in the MHC library. There are sayings and proverbs in the Pennsylvania Dutch language that relate to Quatember, and the Wednesday of each Embertide was noted in the Kalender used by families to guide their growing cycles and farm activities. German farm scene from Arndt’s Wahren Christenthum. Old-fashioned Mennonites and Amish were more tolerant of folk practices, including rites of powwowing/braucherei (healing), planting by the signs of the moon, etc. ![]() It was rooted in pre-Christian and medieval practice, and was at times discouraged by educated clergy of the Lutheran and Reformed churches. Some Germans in Pennsylvania practiced “parallel folk religion” in addition to formal religion (email from historian Alan Keyser, 1/26/16). Germans, and is probably the reason that birth on an Ember Day would be noteworthy. In Catholic and Anglican tradition, the Saturday of an Embertide is the traditional time for ordination of priests and deacons in the context of prayer and fasting.įor Protestant Pennsylvania Germans, Ember Days had no particular religious significance, but medieval folklore about the days and their spiritual significance persisted in the minds of some Pa. While the Quatuor Tempora were not observed universally by the church outside Rome, German Europe widely adopted the practice upon conversion to Christianity.Įmbertides are groups of three days-Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday-following the first Sunday of Lent (spring), Pentecost Sunday (summer), the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (autumn), and the third Sunday of Advent (winter). Early in Roman church practice they were instituted to replace pre-Christian festivals of prayer and sacrifice for good harvest, etc. ![]() The Quatuor Tempora “Four Seasons” (called in German “Quatember”) were four groups of “Ember Days” or “Embertides” in the church year that were set aside seasonally for fasting and prayer. Several years ago, while transcribing a Bucks County Mennonite family register, I came across an unfamiliar phrase noting that Henry Angeny was born Decem“ auf den quatember ”. Ember Day Lore Written by Forrest Moyer on December 10, 2020Įach of the four seasons has an Ember Day (image source: Wikipedia).
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