THE WAYSIDE SHRINE

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23053, 22 June 1940, Page 15

THE WAYSIDE SHRINE

THERE is a widespread custom to be found in the rural districts of Austria, Switzerland, Bavaria', Bohemia, and other parts of' central Europe with a largely Catholic population. Little crucifixes, fixed on poles about 6 feet high, sheltered by tiny roofs consisting of two bare planks, are posted along footpaths, near isolated settlements, sometimes amidst a field or a Wood clearance. The purpose for which these signs have been erected is not always the same. Borne perhaps are supposed-to replace an altar for an isolated peasant who lives many miles away from the nearest chapel or church. In fact, peasant girls and women can often be seen performing their prayer kneeling on a little plank placed underneath the crucifix. Many of these shrines in the fields express the peasant’s piety, and to solicit God’s protection for his fields and crop. The most frequent use, however, is that of a commemoration tablet

(SPECtALt.y WRITTEN FOR THE PRESS.) s [By F.H.]

relating tb some particular event or accident. The only language that has a special name for this kind of “open air crucifix” is German, but only a most copious dictionary would contain the- Word “Marterl,” giving it art English explanation of “shrine with crucifix by the roadside.” The Word Marterl, which is derived from the same root as “martyr,” gives us an idea of how the habit of erecting these shrines arose. During the religious struggles of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, many people were tortured and executed for their religious conviction, and their followers tried to perpetuate their steadfastness and sacrifice by laying down a commemoration stone on the spot of the martyr’s death. This habit has been adopted by the peasants who glorify the deaths of their kihsmeh, even if it was not a heroic death. The Marterl : is erected on the place of the accident or the death, and often there is a description of what had happened, sometimes even U pictorial

record of the situation. In spite of the mostly tragic subjects dealt with, these descriptions produce a most comical effect because of the simple-minded Way they are Composed. It seems tragi-comical to find an unsophisticated poem on a peasant who was killed by a falling tree or by a kick from a cow, but it is funnier still When the writer tries to moralise. For instance, one rhymed inscription gives - the warning example of a drunkard, who one night going home intoxicated, fell with his face into a mudhole and choked.