Page - 76 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/02

Charivari or the Historicising of a Question | 75www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/2, 67–79 his or her old existence – classically this is called the mystical death, which means the dying of willfulness and total surrender to the divine that can be traced in Moravian songs as well33 – and introduced into the status of divine bride. The depiction of the soul as bride evokes much more positive allusions, the choice of language becomes creative and playful. The soul becomes – these semantics were used in the time of sifting – a little dove (diminutive Täu­ blein) and a little bee (diminutive Bienlein34) but most prominently the idea of the Creutzluftvöglein35 and creutz=luft=täubelein (little dove in the air of the cross) emerges: What does a creutz=luft=täubelein do if it wants to get out of its little hut? the limbs are a little sick: sooner or later the soul wants to see the bridegroom; thus she soon sees him stand there, she sees the side, hand, and foot, the little lamb plants a kiss on the faint heart. The kiss of peace pulls out the soul and takes it home in his mouth: the kiss is seen right in the hut … and if it’s finished, the soul gets it to join it in the cave of the wound.36 Thus playful motifs show the cordiality of the interaction between Christ and the soul, which will be exemplified through the correlation of the motifs of bride/ bridegroom, stigma, and dress and their religious and gender implications. BRIDE/BRIDEGROOM, STIGMA, DRESS – THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE BRIDE The stigmata are central to worship in the Moravian community, in which after recognizing his or her own sinfulness the individual searches for his or her divine bridegroom and the path to righteousness within the virtual marriage. The singing congregation wants to be washed in the blood of Christ and “anointed with your wound”,37 so that “the body as it was can go to heaven, still undecayed, completely [mit haut und haar, with skin and hair] into the beautiful wounds [wunden=schön, a wordplay]”.38 The essential impulse of worship focused on the stigmata is justi- fication: the sinful individual “finds forgiveness for all sins in the wounds”39 and 33 Beyreuther 1978, Von der Fröhlichkeit in der Hoffnung, 8. 34 See Beyreuther 1978, Von der Ablegung unsrer Hütte, 13. 35 For this motif and its temporal emergence in 1745/46 see Peucker 2002, 78. 36 “Wie machts ein creutz=luft=täubelein, wenns ’raus will aus dem hüttelein? die glieder sind ein wenig krank: der seele wirds kurz oder lang, den Bräutigam zu sehn; so sieht sie Ihn bald stehn, sie sieht die Seite, Hand und Fuss, das Lämmlein gibt ihr einen kuss, aufs matte herze. Der frieds=kuss zieht die seele ’raus, und in dem munde mit nach hause: der hütte sieht man den kuss an … wenns gar ist, hohlt die seele sie nach zur Wun-den=höhle!”, Beyreuther 1978, Von der Ablegung unsrer Hütte, 8. 37 “[D]er Leib, so wie er war, kan in den himmel gehen, noch unverwest, mit haut und haar, und in der Wunden=schön”, Beyreuther 1978, Von der Ablegung unsrer Hütte, 9. 38 Beyreuther 1978, Anhang, 22. 39 Beyreuther 1978, Worte unsers Zeugnisses, 5.