!!!Fronleichnam

Corpus Christi (German term: Fronleichnam; Middle High German: 
"vronlicham" = Body of the Lord), Catholic feast of the Eucharist 
(since 1264) celebrated on the 2%%sup nd/%  Thursday after Whitsun. 
Corpus Christi was celebrated in Tirol and in Styria before 1285, in 
Salzburg before 1352 and in Vienna before 1334. In the Corpus Christi 
processions common on this holiday, the Eucharist is carried around in 
the monstrance under a "heaven" (baldaquin on four posts) along the 
decorated procession route to four altars set up outdoors. In West 
Styria (e.g. Deutschlandsberg) flowers line the procession route; lake 
processions are held on Lake Traunsee and Lake Hallstatt (Upper 
Austria) reminiscent of the magnificent decorations of Corpus Christi 
processions during the Counter-Reformation (introduced in Traunkirchen 
in 1632 by the Jesuits). In Lungau (Zederhaus, Muhr) and Pongau 
(Bischofshofen, Huettau, Pfarrwerfen, Werfenweng) in the province of 
Salzburg, as well as in Rohr im Gebirge (Lower Austria) 
"Prangstangen", poles tastefully decorated with flower garlands, 
approximately 5 m high and weighing 30 kg, are also included in the 
procession. "Himmelbrotschutzen" celebrations are held on the Salzach 
near Oberndorf (in the province of Salzburg), where four blessed (but 
not consecrated) wafers are tossed into the water. "Antlassritte" 
("Antlass" = release, originally referred to the indulgences granted 
by the Church on Maundy Thursday, later used to refer to the feast of 
Corpus Christi, which always falls on a Thursday) are held in Tirol in 
the Brixen/Bressanone valley (Brixen/Bressanone im Thale, Kirchberg, 
Westendorf). In the Middle Ages religious dramas ("Corpus Christi 
dramas") were performed. Individual theatre troupes travelling by 
waggon or on foot acted out biblical scenes. The material presented in 
Corpus Christi plays encompassed a longer period of time than the 
material presented in the Passion plays at Easter. Such plays enjoyed 
the height of their popularity in the Baroque era, and were performed 
until around the mid-18%%sup th/%  century.

!Literature
H. Fielhauer, Die Frohnleichnam-Stangen in Rohr im 
Gebirge, in: Jahrbuch fuer Landeskunde von Niederoesterreich, 1964; 
idem, Frohnleichnam-Stangen in Rohr im Gebirge, 1969 (film by OeWF).


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