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ECHTERNACH

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 884 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ECHTERNACH , a See also:

town in the See also:grand duchy of See also:Luxemburg, on the Sfire, See also:close to the Prussian frontier. Pop. (1905) 3484. It is the See also:oldest town in Luxemburg, and was the centre from which the See also:English See also:Saint See also:Willibrord converted the See also:people to See also:Christianity in the 7th See also:century. There are the See also:Benedictine See also:abbey, the See also:hospital See also:almshouse, which is said to be the oldest hospital in See also:Europe except the Hotel-Dieu in See also:Paris, and the See also:church of St See also:Peter and St See also:Paul. The Benedictine abbey has been greatly shorn of its See also:original dimensions, but the See also:basilica remains a See also:fair See also:monument of Romano-See also:Gothic See also:art. The church of St Peter and St Paul stands on an isolated See also:mound, and for the ascent sixty steps have been built in the See also:side, and these are well worn by the tread of numerous pilgrims who come in each succeeding See also:year. The interior of the church is curious more than imposing, and is specially noteworthy only for its gloom. Under the See also:altar, and below a See also:white See also:marble effigy of himself, lies Saint Willibrord. Echternach is famous, however, in particular for the dancing procession held on Whit-Tuesday every year. The origin of this festival is uncertain, but it See also:dates at least from the 13th century and was probably instituted during on outbreak of See also:cholera. Nowadays it is an occasion of See also:pilgrimage, among Germans and Belgians as well as Luxemburgers, for all sick persons, but especially for the epileptic and those suffering from St See also:Vitus' See also:dance.

The ceremony is interesting, and the See also:

Roman See also:Catholic Church lends all its See also:ritual to make it more imposing. The See also:archbishop of See also:Trier attends to represent See also:Germany, and the See also:bishop of Luxemburg figures for the grand duchy. There is a religious ceremony on the Prussian side of the See also:bridge over the Sure, and when it is over the See also:congregation See also:cross into the duchy to join the procession, partly religious, partly popular, through the streets of the town. The religious procession, carrying cross and See also:banners and attended by three See also:hundred singers, comes first, chanting St Willibrord's hymn. Next comes a See also:band of See also:miscellaneous See also:instruments playing as a See also:rule the old See also:German See also:air " See also:Adam had seven sons," and then follow the dancers. Many of these are See also:young and full of See also:life and See also:health and dance foramusement, but many others are old or feeble and dance in the See also:hope of recovery or of escaping from some trouble, but on all alike the conditions of the dance are See also:incumbent. There are three steps forward and two back; five steps are thus taken to make one in advance. This becomes especially trying at the See also:flight of steps mounting to the little church where the procession ends in front of the See also:shrine of the See also:great saint. There are sixty steps, but it takes three hundred to reach the See also:top for the 'final See also:time. It is said that those who fall from See also:age or weariness have to be dragged out of the way by onlookers or they would be trampled to See also:death by the succeeding waves of dancers. The procession, although it covers a distance of less than a mile, is said to take as much as five See also:hours in its accomplishment. In olden days the abbey was the See also:goal of the procession, and See also:King See also:William I. of the Netherlands—great-grandfather of See also:Queen Wilhelmina—changed the See also:day from Tuesday to See also:Sunday so that a working day should not be lost.

This reform did not See also:

answer, and the See also:ancient See also:order was restored. Some critics see in the dancing procession of Echternach merely the survival of the See also:spring dance of the See also:heathen races, but at any See also:rate it invests the little town with an See also:interest and importance that would otherwise be lacking.

End of Article: ECHTERNACH

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