Corona causes problems for star singers - they fight for their tradition with creative ideas

Created: 01/05/2022, 07:01 AM

From: Theresa Kuchler

The carol singers deliver the blessing C + M + B ("Christ mansionem benedicat", Christ bless this house).

In order to keep the custom alive even in times of Corona and to find offspring, creativity is required.

© Carsten Rehder

Mario Tomic has been involved in the caroling campaign for almost 20 years.

Because of Corona, he now has to watch how the offspring are increasingly absent.

But the carol singers want to keep their custom alive - and get creative.

Freising

- Mario Tomic was in third grade when he first went from house to house as a carol singer.

“That was a good long time ago,” remembers the 28-year-old.

His commitment to traditional Epiphany singing has not stopped to this day - on the contrary.

For eleven years now, Tomic has been a member of the carol singers organization team in the parish of St. Georg in Freising.

“It used to be a matter of course to be part of the carol singers,” he says.

Some come to the Epiphany as they prepare for Communion, others as acolytes.

Many children join in because their siblings and friends are already there.

"We always went with friends, in the clique."

Motivation for star singing: "A combination of helping and being together"

Tomic believes that the community in particular can inspire young people.

In addition to collecting donations for children in the Third World, it is also an important reason for the 28-year-old why he has been involved in caroling for years.

"It's the combination of helping and being together."

In the meantime, however, it is no longer so easy to get children and young people enthusiastic about star singing.

On the one hand, the priorities of young people have changed, believes Mario Tomic.

“Many prefer to go skiing with their family during the holidays,” says the Freising native, somewhat frustrated.

Mario Tomic has been committed to the carol singers for many years.

© Private

Corona makes the search for offspring more difficult

Corona is another difficult factor. According to Mario Tomic, the pandemic is making a significant contribution to the fact that it is difficult to find offspring for Epiphany singing. After all, there is the familiar image of children and young people walking the streets as the three kings, singing and delivering the blessings C + M + B ("Christ mansionem benedicat", Christ bless this house), in many regions not this year either . As early as 2020, the Freising Parish of St. Georg decided not to send the carol singers into their homes. Instead, they distributed messages in people's mailboxes.

"We are no longer so present," says Tomic.

That makes the search for offspring difficult, after all, this “advertising effect” alone has always contributed to the fact that children and young people wanted to be active with the carol singers themselves.

Nonetheless, he looks to the future with hope.

“I assume that it will get better as soon as we are visible again.” He is betting on the coming year.

Many families still want the Three Wise Men to visit

That is also in the interests of the people.

After all, many families still want the Three Wise Men to visit.

“My experience is that the carol singers are still wanted,” says Tomic.

He himself has never been turned away at a door.

But even if the Three Kings do not go from house to house this year - the Freising does not have to do without the blessing entirely.

Together with his organizational group in the parish of St. Georg, Mario Tomic has come up with a creative alternative to traditional Epiphany singing: "We shot a video of the carol singers that can be accessed via a QR code." The digital code can be found on the homepage of the parish as well as in the church, where stickers with the blessing are also on display.

In addition to Freising, many other parishes in Upper Bavaria donate a Corona-compliant blessing.

In Gilching and Schongau, for example, there are “blessings” to collect, in Unterschleißheim (Munich district) messages are distributed in the mailboxes and in Munich-Freimann they are sung in the open air.