Protection from, and exorcism of, supernatural evil in Germany (medieval to 19th century)

[malymin]

Hello!

Writing a fanfiction taking place inside of a fairy-tale kingdom. In-universe, the fairy-tale is a literary fairy tale (aka has a singular author, not a true folk tale), written by a German author, some time in the 18th century at earliest and the 19th century at latest. The author character lived and died in a fictional town heavily based on the real world town of Nördlingen. I'm writing a scene where a character from the fairy-tale setting is feeling guilt about having been "weak" against a supernatural, corrupting force, and is scared that force is still possessing or influencing him.

Most of the information I can find on the topic of exorcism, prayers against demonic/bewitching/etc influence, repentance for having practiced witchcraft, renouncing demonic temptation, etc I can find on my own are specifically resources aimed at modern-day Catholics living in English-speaking countries. (That is, when they're even remotely in the ballpark of what I'm looking for... new-age and non-Christian solutions, while interesting, are not helpful for what I'm writing.) However, I know that a large percentage of Christians in Germany are some flavor of Protestant. Even when it comes to Catholic-majority regions like Bavaria, there might be things that have been done there in the past that would not be recorded on an English-language website for English-speaking Catholics - especially folk beliefs and traditions not officially condoned by religious authorities.

Region:

• Least specifically looking for stuff from German speaking countries in Europe
• Most specifically: looking for things from the Swabia region of Germany, within the state of Bavaria

Religion:

• Christianity mainly, maybe some Germanic pagan stuff if I branch out.
• Protestant or Catholic
• Not just solutions ideally condoned by local religious authorities, but folk beliefs and practices

Historical Placement:

• Ideally, not newer than the 19th century. If people didn't believe it prior to, idk, 1925 or something, it's not as useful to me.
• Must have been practiced at some point after the Christianization of the region, at absolute earliest.
• However! Customs and beliefs that are not strongly attested to in reality, but that appear in fictional and folkloric depictions of the past or present written (or transcribed from oral tradition) within the "target range" (such as "pre-christian times" as they'd be seen in Wagnerian operas, or "feudal society" as depicted in both the feudal period's own courtly literature and later literature), are also helpful, as the fic I'm writing is set within an author-created world that would be influenced by such pre-existing and contemporaneous fiction's distortions of reality.

I hope this isn't too specific. If you know something in this ballpark but don't think it's "good enough" for my nitpicky criteria, please share anyways so I can learn something new! ^_^;

Comments

[dr_zook]

I'm not exactly sure what kind of stuff you're looking for, but maybe you'll be entertained by this bit:

I'm from Northern Bavaria, which is actually not Bavaria (but Franconia) and most definitely not Swabia. ;) But my father is from a very rural part there, also Protestant. He was raised on a farm, and once, "between the years" (which means: between Christmas Eve and Epiphany), apparently his uncle (my guess is this took place during the 1960s) refused to collect his cattle that spilled out of their enclosure when the fence broke down. Because under no circumstances it was allowed to fix the fence (or anything else) between the years! He got them later, after Epiphany, collecting them from his neighbours who had picked them up. Also, no clothes hanging on the clothesline on New Year's Eve-- lest you want the Wild Hunt to get tangled up in there (and nick your undies or something)!

Good luck with your story. :)

[jadelennox]

Oh, fascinating! Do you happen to know if the fence-fixing prohibition was religious or superstitious? I know that's an awful distinction, but I mean, was there a church prohibition on labor during the 12 days? Or just, obviously you'd never do that, just like you wouldn't walk under a ladder or break a mirror?

[dr_zook]

My guess is it was superstitious. I didn't get the impression that my father's family would care a flying fuck what a priest told them, haha. And that the neighbours kind of just good-naturedly shrugged their shoulders, because that ancestor was a bit over-the-top weird. ;)

The whole 12 days thing was definitely Wild Hunt connected.