Store Bededag
Encyclopedia
Store Bededag, translated literally as Great Prayer Day or more loosely as General Prayer Day, "All Prayers" Day, Great Day of Prayers or Common Prayer Day, is a Danish holiday
celebrated on the 4th Friday after Easter
. It is also celebrated in the Faroe Islands
, where it is called Dýri biðidagur.
It is a collection of minor Christian
holy days consolidated into one day. The day was introduced in the Church of Denmark
in 1686 by King Christian V
as a consolidation of several minor (or local) Roman Catholic holidays which the Church observed that had survived the Reformation
. Store Bededag is a statutory holiday in Denmark. It was one of the few holidays that survived in the great holiday reform that was carried out in 1771 during the reign of Christian VII, when his Prime Minister
, Count Johann Friedrich von Struensee
, was in power. The day was introduced as a more efficient alternative to individually celebrating a number of holidays honoring various minor saints in the Spring
. It was not, however, Struensee who had come up with the idea of this particular reform, as the church commission which had worked on it had been instituted several years before Struensee arrived at the Danish court.
Bells in every church announce the eve of Store Bededag.
There are very few traditions associated with Store Bededag. Formerly, citizens and students of Copenhagen
strolled the city ramparts on the evening before the holiday; the students of Copenhagen University did this to honour the many students who had died defending Copenhagen during the assault on Copenhagen
. In the evening before the holiday, it was customary to buy and eat varme hveder, a traditional bread, because bakers were closed on holidays and people bought bread for the following day.
Today, the city ramparts are gone and instead the tradition is to walk along Langelinie on Copenhagen's waterfront or on the fortification of Kastellet
, though only few follow this tradition depending on the spring weather. It is more common, also outside Copenhagen, to still buy and eat varme hveder.
This is the only day except Sundays on confirmations take place, for confirmation is part of regular church services.
- the Roman Catholic dioceses, the Old Catholic Church
, the Jewish congregations and the Reformed (Calvinist) church bodies
as well as other Christian denomination
s celebrate a comparable interfaith feast day named Federal Day of Thanksgiving, Repentance and Prayer . It is celebrated on the third Sunday in September. In the Canton of Geneva another comparable feast, the Jeûne genevois
, is celebrated.
the Protestant church bodies
of Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist) and United
denominational affiliation celebrate a comparable feast day named Day of Repentance
and Prayer
. It is now celebrated in November on the penultimate Wednesday before the beginning of the Protestant Liturgical year
on the first Sunday of Advent
. However, it is not a statutory non-working holiday anymore, except in the Free States of Saxony and of Bavaria, where it is a school holiday only.
of the Bible
, where God sent out the prophet Jonah (יוֹנָה)
in order to announce the inhabitants of Nineveh
, that God is to overthrow the city (Book of Jonah ):
"And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast
, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not."
Christians practised two kinds of days of repentance, those scheduled on particular events of emergency and those celebrated on the Ember days
. After the Reformation
the Protestant congregations continued that tradition. The first day of prayer, scheduled by Emperor Charles V
, was celebrated in 1532 by Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire
in Strasbourg
on occasion of the Ottoman
invasion at the eastern border of the Empire. In the following centuries different feast days of repentance and prayer were fixed within the many different Holy Roman German states of Protestant population.
and the component German states
of the Empire (1871-1918)
47 different such feast days, celebrated at 24 different dates. In 1893 Prussia
ended this plurality for the different territorially organised Protestant church bodies within its territory. In all of Prussia the last Wednesday before November 23, or eleven days before the first Sunday of Advent, was fixed as Day of Repentance and Prayer, being also a statutory holiday. Later Protestant church bodies in other German states followed, and in 1934 it was fixed nationwide for the date now usual.
In 1939 the Buß- und Bettag was abolished as a statutory non-working holiday, in order to gain more working days during the Second World War, and thus it was celebrated on the Sunday following its actual date. After the war Buß- und Bettag was again celebrated on afore-mentioned Wednesdays, being again a statutory holiday in most states of Germany
in all four sectors of Berlin
and all four Occupation zones (except of the Free State of Bavaria in the American zone). In 1952 also prevailingly Catholic Bavaria made Buß- und Bettag a statutory non-working holiday - first only in its prevailingly Lutheran counties
, as of 1981 in all the Free State. In 1966 Buß- und Bettag was abolished in the communist East German Democratic Republic
and in East Berlin
as statutory non-working holiday in the course of reducing the working week to five days.
After October 3, 1990, the day of unification
of East Germany, East and West Berlin
with the West German Federal Republic of Germany, Buß- und Bettag became a statutory non-working holiday in the East German states again. In 1994 the Federal Government of Germany passed a law organising the financing of the federal nursing care insurance. It needed more funds thus the federal government proposed to increase the working time of the German labour force for a day, without increasing the wages, but using the revenues of the unpaid additional labour day to secure the financing of the federal nursing care insurance. For this purpose the federal government, then led by Christian Democratic Union
(CDU), proposed the German states, competent for the definition of religious feast days as statutory non-working holidays, to abolish the Protestant Buß- und Bettag as statutory non-working holiday.
All German states agreed, except of the Free State of Saxony, which chose instead a higher charge on labour revenues, so that only there Buß- und Bettag remained a statutory non-working holiday as of 1995. In Bavaria Buß- und Bettag remained a day off in all schools and most kindergartens.
Public holidays in Denmark
; three additional shop closing days are mentioned in section Other special days.-Public holidays:-Other special days:Some of these days derive from politics, and some from Roman Catholic traditions that predate the current national church...
celebrated on the 4th Friday after Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
. It is also celebrated in the Faroe Islands
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...
, where it is called Dýri biðidagur.
It is a collection of minor Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
holy days consolidated into one day. The day was introduced in the Church of Denmark
Church of Denmark
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, Church of Denmark or Danish National Church, is the state church and largest denomination in Denmark and Greenland...
in 1686 by King Christian V
Christian V of Denmark
Christian V , was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670 to 1699, the son of Frederick III of Denmark and Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
as a consolidation of several minor (or local) Roman Catholic holidays which the Church observed that had survived the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. Store Bededag is a statutory holiday in Denmark. It was one of the few holidays that survived in the great holiday reform that was carried out in 1771 during the reign of Christian VII, when his Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, Count Johann Friedrich von Struensee
Johann Friedrich Struensee
Count Johann Friedrich Struensee was a German doctor. He became royal physician to the mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark and a minister in the Danish government. He rose in power to a position of “de facto” regent of the country, where he tried to carry out widespread reforms...
, was in power. The day was introduced as a more efficient alternative to individually celebrating a number of holidays honoring various minor saints in the Spring
Spring (season)
Spring is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition period between winter and summer. Spring and "springtime" refer to the season, and broadly to ideas of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. The specific definition of the exact timing of "spring" varies according to local climate, cultures and...
. It was not, however, Struensee who had come up with the idea of this particular reform, as the church commission which had worked on it had been instituted several years before Struensee arrived at the Danish court.
Bells in every church announce the eve of Store Bededag.
There are very few traditions associated with Store Bededag. Formerly, citizens and students of Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
strolled the city ramparts on the evening before the holiday; the students of Copenhagen University did this to honour the many students who had died defending Copenhagen during the assault on Copenhagen
The assault on Copenhagen
The assault on Copenhagen 11 February 1659 was a major battle during the Second Northern War, taking place during the siege of Copenhagen by the Swedish army.- Background :...
. In the evening before the holiday, it was customary to buy and eat varme hveder, a traditional bread, because bakers were closed on holidays and people bought bread for the following day.
Today, the city ramparts are gone and instead the tradition is to walk along Langelinie on Copenhagen's waterfront or on the fortification of Kastellet
Kastellet, Copenhagen
Kastellet, located in Copenhagen, Denmark is one of the best preserved fortifications in Northern Europe. It is constructed in the form of a pentagram with bastions at its corners...
, though only few follow this tradition depending on the spring weather. It is more common, also outside Copenhagen, to still buy and eat varme hveder.
This is the only day except Sundays on confirmations take place, for confirmation is part of regular church services.
Bettag in Switzerland
In Switzerland - except of in the Canton of GenevaCanton of Geneva
The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland, surrounded on almost all sides by France. As is the case in several other Swiss cantons The Republic and Canton of Geneva is the French speaking westernmost canton or state of Switzerland,...
- the Roman Catholic dioceses, the Old Catholic Church
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is the Swiss member church of the Union of Utrecht, also known as Old Catholic Church, originally founded by the jansenists, with a later influx of discontented Catholics following their disappointment with the First Vatican Council. It has 14,000...
, the Jewish congregations and the Reformed (Calvinist) church bodies
Landeskirche
In Germany and Switzerland, a Landeskirche is the church of a region. They originated as the national churches of the independent states, States of Germany or Cantons of Switzerland , that later unified to form modern Germany or modern Switzerland , respectively.-Origins in the Holy Roman...
as well as other Christian denomination
Christian denomination
A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity. In the Orthodox tradition, Churches are divided often along ethnic and linguistic lines, into separate churches and traditions. Technically, divisions between one group and...
s celebrate a comparable interfaith feast day named Federal Day of Thanksgiving, Repentance and Prayer . It is celebrated on the third Sunday in September. In the Canton of Geneva another comparable feast, the Jeûne genevois
Jeûne genevois
Jeûne genevois is a public holiday in the canton of Geneva, Switzerland which occurs on the Thursday following the first Sunday of September. It dates back to the 16th century.-Background:...
, is celebrated.
Buß- und Bettag in Germany
In GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
the Protestant church bodies
Landeskirche
In Germany and Switzerland, a Landeskirche is the church of a region. They originated as the national churches of the independent states, States of Germany or Cantons of Switzerland , that later unified to form modern Germany or modern Switzerland , respectively.-Origins in the Holy Roman...
of Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist) and United
United and uniting churches
United and uniting churches are churches formed from the merger or other form of union of two or more different Protestant denominations.Perhaps the oldest example of a united church is found in Germany, where the Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of Lutheran, United and Reformed...
denominational affiliation celebrate a comparable feast day named Day of Repentance
Repentance
Repentance is a change of thought to correct a wrong and gain forgiveness from a person who is wronged. In religious contexts it usually refers to confession to God, ceasing sin against God, and resolving to live according to religious law...
and Prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
. It is now celebrated in November on the penultimate Wednesday before the beginning of the Protestant Liturgical year
Liturgical year
The liturgical year, also known as the church year, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches which determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which portions of Scripture are to be read. Distinct liturgical colours may appear in...
on the first Sunday of Advent
Advent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...
. However, it is not a statutory non-working holiday anymore, except in the Free States of Saxony and of Bavaria, where it is a school holiday only.
Meaning and origin
The tradition of repentance and prayer is rooted in the Book of JonahBook of Jonah
The Book of Jonah is a book in the Hebrew Bible. It tells the story of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah ben Amittai who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh but tries to escape the divine mission...
of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, where God sent out the prophet Jonah (יוֹנָה)
Jonah
Jonah is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC, the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation...
in order to announce the inhabitants of Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
, that God is to overthrow the city (Book of Jonah ):
"And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast
Fasting
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...
, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not."
As a feast day for Protestants
In mediaeval timesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
Christians practised two kinds of days of repentance, those scheduled on particular events of emergency and those celebrated on the Ember days
Ember days
In the liturgical calendar of the Western Christian churches, Ember days are four separate sets of three days within the same week — specifically, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday — roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that were formerly set aside for fasting and prayer...
. After the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
the Protestant congregations continued that tradition. The first day of prayer, scheduled by Emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, was celebrated in 1532 by Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
on occasion of the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
invasion at the eastern border of the Empire. In the following centuries different feast days of repentance and prayer were fixed within the many different Holy Roman German states of Protestant population.
As a statutory non-working holiday
In 1878 there were in some Provinces of PrussiaProvinces of Prussia
The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in...
and the component German states
States of the German Empire (1871)
The German Empire consisted of 27, later 26 constituent states, the largest of which was Prussia. These states, or Staaten ....
of the Empire (1871-1918)
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
47 different such feast days, celebrated at 24 different dates. In 1893 Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
ended this plurality for the different territorially organised Protestant church bodies within its territory. In all of Prussia the last Wednesday before November 23, or eleven days before the first Sunday of Advent, was fixed as Day of Repentance and Prayer, being also a statutory holiday. Later Protestant church bodies in other German states followed, and in 1934 it was fixed nationwide for the date now usual.
In 1939 the Buß- und Bettag was abolished as a statutory non-working holiday, in order to gain more working days during the Second World War, and thus it was celebrated on the Sunday following its actual date. After the war Buß- und Bettag was again celebrated on afore-mentioned Wednesdays, being again a statutory holiday in most states of Germany
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
in all four sectors of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and all four Occupation zones (except of the Free State of Bavaria in the American zone). In 1952 also prevailingly Catholic Bavaria made Buß- und Bettag a statutory non-working holiday - first only in its prevailingly Lutheran counties
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
, as of 1981 in all the Free State. In 1966 Buß- und Bettag was abolished in the communist East German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
and in East Berlin
East Berlin
East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...
as statutory non-working holiday in the course of reducing the working week to five days.
After October 3, 1990, the day of unification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
of East Germany, East and West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
with the West German Federal Republic of Germany, Buß- und Bettag became a statutory non-working holiday in the East German states again. In 1994 the Federal Government of Germany passed a law organising the financing of the federal nursing care insurance. It needed more funds thus the federal government proposed to increase the working time of the German labour force for a day, without increasing the wages, but using the revenues of the unpaid additional labour day to secure the financing of the federal nursing care insurance. For this purpose the federal government, then led by Christian Democratic Union
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
(CDU), proposed the German states, competent for the definition of religious feast days as statutory non-working holidays, to abolish the Protestant Buß- und Bettag as statutory non-working holiday.
All German states agreed, except of the Free State of Saxony, which chose instead a higher charge on labour revenues, so that only there Buß- und Bettag remained a statutory non-working holiday as of 1995. In Bavaria Buß- und Bettag remained a day off in all schools and most kindergartens.