Why a wooden figure of Mary wanders from house to house
Created: 12/08/2022, 1:00 p.m
By: Christine Merk
In the chapel of St. Anna's house in Holzkirchen, the figure of Mary has found a home.
Nursing manager Sofie Greinsberger (left) and her deputy Magdalena Rinner pay her a visit there.
© Private
The Holzkirchen-Warngau parish association keeps an old tradition alive in the run-up to Christmas: the so-called women's carrying.
Holzkirchen – “Who is knocking?” “Oh, two very poor people.” This is how an Advent carol from the Alps begins.
It describes Maria and Josef's search for a place to stay and how the innkeepers rebuffed it again and again: "Just go away, you won't come in."
Just as it should have been back then, that Maria and Josef were taken in, this is conveyed by an old custom that is kept alive in the district, among other things in the Catholic parish association Holzkirchen-Warngau: carrying women.
A wooden figure of Mary is wandering from house to house in the parish association these days.
Shortly before the birth of her child, the mother-to-be is not turned away, but is given a hostel.
On the 1st of Advent, Maria was “sent out”, explains parish officer Barbara Kainz.
The figure is about 40 centimeters tall, made of natural wood and has a clearly visible baby bump on which she puts her hand protectively.
The first days of Advent she found a place in the St. Josef kindergarten.
"Every day she is in a different group," reports Kainz.
The Mother of God is greeted in the morning circle, the children sing her a song and pray for her.
"They give her a hostel," says Kainz.
At the end of the first week of Advent, the children brought the figure to St. Anna's house, where it was set up in the chapel. On Sunday, it was ceremoniously moved into the parish service and has been passed on every day since then.
Anyone who would like to have Maria with them for a day could put their name on a list beforehand – this is how the figure now wanders through the parish.
Families, parents of children who are celebrating their first communion this year, single people - everyone can be a hostel for a day.
Kainz thinks it's a nice thing, especially for people who live alone.
"Then you'll have Maria's company one evening."
In the next few weeks, the figure will also be present at the senior citizens' afternoon, stopping off in the Italian community and at the Quirin-Regler elementary school.
"There is a saying for the handover," explains community officer Kainz.
How it is designed in detail is left to the people themselves.
In the wooden box in which the figure is transported, people will find ideas and songs for worship at home.
A hostel book is also included.
Every host can register here.
"Some write something in it, sometimes the children paint a picture of how Mary stood with them," explains Kainz.
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This hostel book is nice to leaf through as it goes back a few years.
Maria's journey ends on December 24th.
Then the figure returns to the crèche celebrations in St. Joseph's Church.
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