THE LUTHER FESTIVAL AT SONNEBERG.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 23, 17 December 1874, Page 3

THE LUTHER FESTIVAL AT SONNEBERG.

A correspondent of the' Daily News, telegraphing from Coburg on Sund ay says :— '■ The Luther Festival at Sonneberg was attended by 10,000 persons. Special trains ran from Coburg, and the peasantry streamed in from the country twenty miles round. Duke George of Meiningen was present at the ancient inn wherein Luther staid in 1530 in the neighboring village of Jiidenbach. The festival began on Saturday evening. The Martin Luther fete proper.commenced at 8 o'clock on Sunday morning by a Catholic service in the town church, "and plosed in the evening by a German service, showing the religion of Thuringia before and after tbe Reformation. At two o'clock in; the afternoon the fete commenced on the hill of Schoenberg, where numerous booths and a menagerie were spread around. Another show represented a villiage fair of Luther's time. During the progress of the Tetzel, accompanied by" numerous monks of various arrived at a booth, where a secretary was seated before a huge money chest inscribed, *' As soon as the money in this chesc doth Ting, the soul straightway to Heaven, doth spring." The secretary deals out in* >■ dulgehces" to the assistant 1 monks, and receives money from them. The monks and hired peasants do a great trade amongst the people. Tetzel was ad-' mirably represented by a bookbinder,

named Neumann, of Sonneberg, who performed his part with great energy. While Tetzel and the monks do a thriving business, a : sudden interruption takes place by the arrival of Dr Martin Luther, accompanied by Melancthon, Spalatin, and others, escorted by lancemen and a mounted escort, and announced by a herald. Luther and his companions ride in an open peasant waggon. His arrival causes great commotion among Tetzel's party, who, though hard pressed and abused by the people, secure their crosses, money chest, and insignia, and make a precipitate flight, followed by Lutner*s lance-bearers and the people who, after a severe struggle, lasting until the bottom of the mountain is reached, capture Tetzel's treasure and return in triumph. The scene was tumultuous and exciting in the highest degree. Luther next proceeded to address an immense crowd from an elevation near Luther's house, and was listened to attentively. The great Reformer was wonderfully personated by Albrecht, the secretary of the Coburg Theatre. The thousands who were assembled joined in singing the grand Luther's hymn, "Em ves'te Beurg ist enser Gott! " The strains were echoed on all sides from the mountains with wonderful effect. The spectacle, heightened by the variegated costumes of the people, was striking. Sunday fete concludes with a festal play in Judenbach village inn.