GERMAN SUPERSTITIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3195, 9 June 1915, Page 73

GERMAN SUPERSTITIONS.

THE KAISER'S BELIEF IN GHOSTS AND CHARMS. A characteristic of the German people which has been little noticed in British Countries is their superstition. It is. not confined to any class; it is so widely prevalent that it may be said to be almost general. Traces of it are found in the most exclusive circles. Even the "All Highest" is not exempt from it. In Brunswick the belief in vampires is common, and here and elsewhere one finds the existence of witches stoutly maintained. In the Hartz Mountains the people are simply steeped in superstitions. There and in other parts of Germany the potency of the Kobolds (small gnomes or spirits of the mine) is an article of -'simple faith. The belief in Hattikins, a sort of domestic sprites, also lingers In some country districts. Germans believe devoutly that on All-Souls' Eve the spirits of the dead revisit the earth. Throughout the Fatherland will bo found many persons who believe firmly in the Evil Eye, and in omens, including death omens. A sneeze will be followed by misfortune unless one says promptly " good health." Belief in charms, amulets, and talismans is

general among ail classes. The written “prayers” (really charms against death, wounds, and disease), which the British “Eye-witness” referred to some time ago as having been found in the possession of many German prisoners, have become so common that the clergy are trying to put down the practice of wearing them.

—A Bishop’s Protest.—

A pastoral letter was issued recently by the Bishop of Limburg directed against “ Superstitions in War,” and was published in the Lokal Anzeiger in order that it might be widely circulated. The Bishop specially denounced “superstitious prayers” at home and in the field, and ordered the clergy to warn the people against the “erroneous and mischievous practice,'” at the same time calling for the destruction of the “godless and nonsensical writings.”

- Beliefs which Failed.—

The Germans are such strong believers in lucky and unlucky days that, although it may, perhaps, be going too far to-say that they arranged that the present war should break out at the same period of the year as that which they waged so successfully against France in 1870, there is nothing at all improbable in the supposition that they had an idea of “luck” at the back of their minds, and that the seasonal synchronisation was not due entirely to chance. It is at least certain that 'superstitious importance was attached even in the highest quarters to certain anniversaries. Sedan Day, for example, was to witness the triumphal entry of the German troops into Paris. After the expectation was disappointed, the anniversaries of other German victories were recalled in turn with superstitious reverence. Then came the birthday of the Kaiser—a day which he himself regards as possessing peculiar virtues.

-The Kaiser’s Precautions.—

Kaiser William, as already indicated, is himself superstitious. He raises his hat solemnly if he encounters a fox, and he has the same dread of mentioning this animal by its name as the commonest German peasant. He refers to it as “Blue Foot,” or as “ He who goes to the forest.” Cats he considers unlucky, and none is allowed to intrude into his presence. There is a popular superstition that lead or iffon bullets are powerless to harm a Prussian monarch, and the Kaiser’s profound belief in the divinity that doth hedge him round is understood to be accompanied by a belief in this legend—although it dees not appear to he strong enough to prevent his taking precautions. Lucky Rings and a Shamrock.—

The Kaiser possesess two rings for which supernatural powers are claimed. One. which is said to protect the wearer from dangers of every kind, is supposed to have been worn by Saladin, and was captured by Margrave Ulrich, of Nuremberg, in a battle with the Saracens beneath the walls of Jerusalem. It is of massive gold, with a square, dark-coloured stone in the centre. ■ Originally it had a sentence from the Koran engraved on it, but this was obliterated and a Latin cross substituted. The talismanic power of the other ring is in its central stone, which came into the possession of the Hohenzolferns in a remarkable way. According to a hoary legend, a toad entered the room of the Elector John of Brandenburg one night, and, after laying this stone on his bed, disappeared. It was set in a ring by Frederick William I, father of Frederick the Great, and since then has been worn by the head of the Prussian Roval House. Another talisman w'hich the Kaiser possesses, and which he is credited with wearing next his heart just now, is a fourleaved shamrock. It is said to have been plucked by a child in the Berlin Thiergarten in 1870 and presented to William I. who wore it during the war against France and attributed good luck to it.

The Family Cradle and a Ghost.— The Hohenzollerns have an ancestral cradle which is supposed to protect infants from ailments. It is of black cok. For more than a couple of centuries it has been used’ for infants of the Eoyal House. The Hohenzollerns have also a ghost—a “ White Lady ” who haunts the various palaces, and is good enough to give warning when anything untoward is about to happen to the family. This “ White Lady ” is the spectre of the Countess Agnes of Orlamunde, a young widow of whom the' Burgrave Albert of Nuremberg (an ancestor of the Electors of Brenderiburg) was enamoured. He thoughtlessly remarked on one occasion that their wedding would be impossible “until four eyes were out of the way.” He referred to his uncle and his brother, but the Countess though he meant her two children, whom, in consequence, she murdered. Albert was so horrified that he abandoned her and married another. Whereupon Countess Agnes -went mad and died; but, unable to rest, her ghost, clad in mourning with a white veil, wanders about. She deos not confine herself to one particular palace, as does another spectre which the Eoyal Schloss in Berlin has all to itself. This is a gigantic streetsweeper, who appears carrying a broom a week before the death of any of the Hohenzollerns. The origin of this extraordinary ghost the writer has been unable to discover. It seems to be “ wropt in mistery.” There is a superstition current commonly in Germany that the Empire will meet with disaster and be brought to an end when there is a Kaiser on the throne who has seven sons. The fact that William II has only six is therefore comforting to his subjects, as it must be to himself.

He should, however, “wait and see.”