Wartenberger Dreikönigssingen as a crowd puller

Created: 01/09/2023, 12:00 p.m

By: Klaus Kuhn

The market place in Wartenberg was completely full on Friday evening.

Of course, there was also warm food for the visitors when the arrival of the Three Kings was played.

© Klaus Kuhn

The Wartenberg folk costume association organized the Epiphany singing and a living nativity scene on the market square - and visitors flocked there in droves.

Wartenberg

– It was the first public appearance for little Antonia: she lay in the manger, next to her parents Bettina and Martin Maier as the Holy Family.

The Three Kings also went there, represented by Hans Egger, Peter Kroschwald and Paul Adelsberger and led by the wind section of the Hohenpolding brass band and the star that Klaus Schauer wore.

Before that, however, a one-hour music program was offered in the parish church with this wind group, the Stadlmuse, the Wartenberg singers and the String String group.

It was compiled by Ursel Adelsberger.

And the children from the folk costume association formed the group of shepherds.

In his welcoming address, Pastor Gregor Bartkowski thanked the association for organizing the traditional event and reminded them that Christmas was celebrated in the Eastern Church on January 6th – the Solemnity of the Epiphany.

In the evangelical church it is the Feast of Epiphany, which is a term that comes from the Greek but means the same thing.

Arrival of the astrologers at the manger, where the continuation of the Christmas story was recited in rhyme and the three guests from the Orient brought their gifts.

© Klaus Kuhn

For the Bible reading, the pastor had selected the arrival of the astrologers, who, as is well known, were never kings, from the Gospel of Mark.

The parish church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was full when the program started without any other big speeches.

Nobody was bothered by the fact that there were three instrumental groups and one singer group, meaning that the singing in this Epiphany took a back seat.

Georg Metzger as King Herod only had one brief appearance, but he displayed real acting talent, especially when he turned away to swear that the little contender would only have a short life.

But then the three main characters broke away from the biblical text and decided in a dream without instructions to simply return by a different path, simply because they did not like the king's look at all.

And the pulpit was also honored again, although it is known that its importance has been drastically reduced since the Second Vatican Council.

It became the stage for Laura Bachmaier as the angel of the annunciation.

The wish of the activists to wait until the end with the applause was fulfilled, but there was a lot of applause for it.

This was followed by the march towards the market square, where little Antonia showed a surprising amount of patience in the crib until she finally got her presents.

The lyrics were consistently recited in rhyme upon arrival at the stables.

In addition, the association had also provided warm food on the market square, so that - with slightly plus temperatures - it was almost bearable with a real Christmas market atmosphere for a long time.