Echternach jumping procession: Whit Tuesday is a must

The announcement that appeared on wort.lu on Monday that the Echternach jumping procession had been brought forward to April 18th was of course an April Fool’s joke (in consultation with the Willibrordus building association). Nobody would change the traditional date on which the pilgrimage takes place, Whit Tuesday. This year the jumping procession will be held on May 21st and will once again attract thousands of pilgrims to the abbey town.

The report that the jumping procession will be introduced as a compulsory subject in primary schools and high schools in the second trimester was also a pure invention of the editorial team. The new CSV/DP government is unlikely to consider such a change or the reintroduction of the school day without lessons.

So it stays with that too this year’s jumping procession everything the same. It starts on Whit Sunday, May 19th, with the solemn high mass in the morning and vespers in the afternoon, followed by the Willibrordus mass in the crypt and the solemn opening prayer on Whit Monday. On Whit Tuesday, May 21st, Echternach will once again be dominated by the jumping procession.

Government sticks to decision

Since March 2012, the Echternach jumping procession has been part of UNESCO’s intangible world cultural heritage. In 2017, the government’s decision to cancel the school day without classes on Whit Tuesday caused even more discussion. And subsequently, a year later, there was even a petition including a public hearing in the Chamber. The initiator was none other than the former LSAP MP and former mayor of the abbey town, Jos. Scheuer. On the one hand, his wish was to promote the jumping procession as an intangible world cultural heritage. On the other hand, Scheuer advocated “à instituer définitivement le mardi de Pentecôte comme journée libre scolaire générale dans l’intérêt de la mise en évidence de l’ensemble du patrimoine et en particulier de la sauvegarde de la procession dansante comme patrimoine mondial immatériel. “

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April, April: Echternach jumping procession is brought forward by four weeks

Just like this year, Whit Tuesday did not fall during the Whitsun holidays in 2019, but also in the week before. Although the students can be excused from classes with a letter of apology, there was great fear at the time that fewer pilgrims would come to Echternach. After all, between 10,000 and 12,000 pilgrims, including around 2,400 young people, take part in the religious event every year.

Origins date back to the 8th century

However, the jumping procession itself goes back several centuries. Shortly after Willibrord’s death in 739, countless people made a pilgrimage to the saint’s grave. In the Middle Ages, 150 towns that depended on the abbey had to deliver their taxes to Echternach at Pentecost. “The jumping procession probably emerged as part of these so-called banishment processions,” says the diocese’s website, cathol.lu. The “Spring Saints” were first mentioned in a document from 1497.

Why the pilgrimage ultimately developed into a jumping procession still seems unclear today. “Some suggest that jumping in the context of successful Christianization can be derived from pagan dance rituals that existed before this time. It also seems possible that the monks brought this ritual form of jumping with them from England, as there are still examples of this on the island today,” says cathol.lu. What is clear, however, is that the procession has gone through countless ups and downs over time – there have been interruptions and bans, among other things.

The melody of the jumping procession has its origins in a simple folk tune that can be found in different variations throughout Europe. It was expanded and harmonized in the 19th and 20th centuries.