Yuletide and the Christmas Festival
GA 125
27 December 1910, Stuttgart
Revised by D. S. Osmond
By receiving the Spirit the human soul develops to ever further stages in the course of cosmic existence. The Spirit is eternal, but the way in which it takes effect, how it manifests in what man can feel, love and create on Earth—that is new in every epoch.
When we think in this way of the Spirit and its progressive manifestation in the course of man's existence, the Eternal and the Transitory are revealed to our eyes of soul. And in particular manifestations of life here and there, we can constantly perceive how the Eternal reveals itself, comes to expression in the Transitory and then vanishes again, thereafter to assert its reality in perpetually new forms.
And today too we can feel that the emblems of Christmas around us are reminiscent of past forms in which the Eternal, manifesting in the outer world, was wont to be symbolised. Certain it is that in the second half of December at the present time, when we go out into the streets of a great city and look at the lights that are intended to be invitations into the houses to celebrate the Christmas Festival, our aesthetic sense must be pained by displays of so-called Christmas goods, while inventions out of keeping with Christmas trees and Christmas symbols whiz past—motor cars, electric tramcars and the like. These phenomena, as experienced today, are utterly at variance with each other. We feel this still more deeply when we realise what the Christmas Festival has become for many of those who want to be regarded in the great cities as the representatives of modern culture. It has become a festival of presents, a festival in which little remains of the warmth and profound depth of feeling which in a past by no means far distant surrounded this most significant season.
Among the experiences restored to us by our anthroposophical conception of the world and way of thinking, will certainly be the warmth of feeling that pervaded the human soul at the times of high festival in the ancient Church's year. We must learn to understand once again how necessary it is for our souls to become aware at certain times of the connection with the great Universe out of which man is born, in order that our intellectual, perceptive and also moral forces may be revitalised. There was an epoch when Christmas was a festival when all morality, all love, all philanthropy could be revivified; in its symbols it radiated a warmth undreamed of by the dreariness and prosaicness of modern life. Nevertheless deep contemplation of these symbols could be a means of developing the perceptions, experiences and convictions of which we ourselves can be aware concerning the resurrection of mankind, the birth of the Spirit of Anthroposophy in our souls.
There is indeed a connection between the earlier conceptions of the Festival of Christ's birth and the modern anthroposophical conceptions of the birth of truly spiritual ideas and ways of thinking, of the birth of the whole anthroposophical spirit in the cradle of our hearts; there is indeed a connection. And maybe it is the anthroposophist of today who will most readily enter into what for long ages was felt at the time of the Christmas Festival and could be felt again if there were any hope of something similar emerging from the atmosphere of materialism surrounding us today.
But if we want to experience the Christmas Festival in the truly anthroposophical way, we cannot limit ourselves to what the Christmas Festival was once upon a time or is now. Wherever we look in the world, and into a past however distant, something that can be compared to the thoughts and feelings connected with the Christmas Festival has existed everywhere. Today we will not go back to the very far past but only to the feelings and experiences which men living in the regions of Middle Europe might have had before the introduction of Christianity at the time of the year when our own Christmas Festival is drawing near. We will think briefly of epochs prior to the introduction of Christianity into Europe, when in regions subject to relatively harsh climatic conditions our forefathers in Europe were obliged to make their living by spending the summer as pastoral or agricultural workers, while their feelings and inclinations were intimately connected with the manifestations of the great world of Nature. They were full of thanksgiving for the sun's rays, full of reverence for the great Universe—a reverence that was not superficial but deeply felt. And when the herdsman or cattle breeder of ancient Europe was out on his rough fields, often in scorching heat, he was inwardly aware not only of the outer, physical aspect of Nature, but in his whole being he felt intimately connected with whatever was radiated to him from Nature; with his whole heart he lived in communion with Nature. It was not only that in his eyes the physical rays of the sun were reflecting the light, but in his heart the sunlight kindled spiritual jubilation, summer-like exultation which culminated in the St. John's fires when the spirit of Nature shouted for joy and was echoed from the hearts of men. Intimate community was also felt with the animal world as being under man's guardianship.
Then came autumn, followed by the season of rigorous winter—and I am thinking now of times when winter swept through the land with a bleakness of which modern humanity has little idea. This was a time when, with the exception of what it was absolutely essential to preserve, the last head of cattle had to be slaughtered. All outer life was stilled; it was actually as though a kind of death made its way into the hearts of men, a kind of darkness, in contrast with the mood that pervaded these same hearts throughout the summer. Those were times when the unique manifestations of climate and of Nature, enabled echoes of ancient clairvoyance still to persist in Middle Europe. People who during the summer were full of joy and merriment, as though Nature herself were rejoicing in their hearts—these same people could become inwardly quiescent during the time of approaching winter; their own souls could respond to an echo of the mood that pervades a man when, unmindful of the outer world, he withdraws into his own inner world in order to become aware of the indwelling Divinity.
So it can be said that Nature herself made it possible for these ancient European peoples to descend from life in the external world deep down into their own inmost being. When November came near this descent into death and darkness was felt for weeks to be a solemn season, to be a harbinger of the approaching dawn of what was called the Yuletide Festival. This mood was a clear indication of how long the remembrance of ancient clairvoyant faculties had persisted among all the peoples of Northern and Middle Europe. During the season following the period roughly corresponding to our months of January and February, men felt inwardly aware of the portents of renewed rejoicing, renewed resurrection in Nature. They were aware of a foretaste of what they would subsequently experience in the external world; but when the fields were still covered with snow, when icicles were still hanging from the trees, when outside in Nature nothing indicated a future state of exultation, there was a persistent condition of withdrawal into themselves, of inner repose which was ultimately transformed in the soul in such a way that a man was, as it were, liberated from his own selfhood.
This intermediate state experienced by our forefathers at the approach of the season we now call spring was felt by them somewhat as the clairvoyant feels his astral body, before that astral body is completely cleansed and purified. It was as if the spiritual horizon were filled with all kinds of animal forms. And those men tried to give expression to this. For them it represented a transition from the profound, festival mood of approaching winter to the mood which would again pervade the soul during summer. And they imitated in symbols what the astral body reveals, imitated it in the form of uninhibited games and dances; by donning animal masks they imitated this transition from a state of complete inner repose to a state of exultant abandonment to great Nature.
When we ponder over this, when we reflect that the hearts and minds of peoples over wide areas were completely given up to such a mood, then we understand that there was present on this soil the feeling of sinking down into the outer physical darkness, into the outer physical death of Nature; we also understand the deep, persistent feeling that in sinking down into the physical death of Nature, into physical darkness, the supreme light of the Spirit can be revealed; and how the experience of being submerged in physical death is directly transformed into that mood of unbridled abandonment to which expression can be given by animal masks, unrestrained dancing and music. Admittedly there was not yet any fully developed feeling that if a human being is to find the highest light he must seek for it in the deepest depths of being; but through an inner, loving union with the weaving forces of Nature a soil was prepared into which there could be planted a knowledge to be imparted to men concerning their further evolution through the power of the Christ Impulse. To these peoples living all over Europe it was only necessary to say—not in dry, abstract words but speaking to the heart by means of symbols: ‘Where you plunge into darkness, into the death of outer Nature, there—if you have prepared your souls to perceive and feel rightly, you can find an eternal, imperishable Light. And this Light has been brought into the evolution of mankind through the quickening power of the Mystery of Golgotha, through the events in Palestine’.
It is characteristic of the centuries immediately following, that in Europe the warmest, most intimate feelings for the Christ Impulse were to be kindled by the thought of the Christ Child, by the birth of the Christ Child. And if we believe that mankind has a mission, what conception must we have of that mission? We must conceive that man has a divine-spiritual origin, that he can look back to that origin, but that he has descended farther and farther away from it, has become more and more closely interwoven with physical matter, with the outer physical plane. But we must also be aware that through the mighty Impulse which we call the Christ Impulse, man can overcome the forces that led him down into the physical world and tread the path upwards into the heights of spiritual life.
Having grasped this we must say to ourselves: as the human Ego is today, incarnated in a physical body, it has descended from divine-spiritual heights of existence and feels entangled with the world of the outer physical plane. But this Ego that has become sinful is rooted in another Ego, a guiltless Ego. Where then, does the Ego that is not yet interwoven with the physical world contact us? At the point when, looking back in memory over our life as it takes its course between birth and death, we come to the moment in our early years when consciousness of our Ego dawned for the first time. The Ego is there, although we are not aware that it is living and active within us, even when there is no realisation of Egohood at all. The Ego looks into the surrounding world, is interwoven with the physical plane even before there is any consciousness of Egohood. In its childlike, innocent state the Ego is nevertheless present and may hover before us as an ideal to be regained, but permeated then with everything that can be experienced in this school of physical life on the Earth. And so, although it will inevitably be difficult for the prosaic intellect to find words in which to clothe it, this ideal can be felt by warm human hearts: ‘Become what your Ego is before there is any concept of it! Become what you could be if you were to find your way to the Ego of your childhood! Then that Ego will shine into everything acquired by the Ego of your later years!’—And inasmuch as we feel this to be an ideal, it shines before us in Jesus of Nazareth, in whom the Christ subsequently became incarnate.
Experiences such as these enable us to understand that an impulse promoting growth and development could move the hearts of the simplest people all over Europe when they contemplated the incarnation of the Being who was afterwards able to receive the Christ into himself. So we realise that it was truly a step forward when feelings connected with the Festival of the birth of Jesus were inculcated into experiences connected with the old Yuletide Festival. It was indeed a mighty step forward and may perhaps best be characterised by saying that in those dark days, when souls gathered together in order to prepare for the rejoicings of the new summer—in that darkness the light of Christ Jesus was kindled!
An echo of what took place among European peoples in those early times still persists in the Christmas Plays which during the nineteenth century, or at any rate during its latter half, had become little more than objects of study for learned investigators and for collectors. During the Middle Ages, however, these Plays were already being performed in a characteristic style during the Christmas period. All the emotions, all the vitality kindled in souls living in the regions where, when Yuletide was approaching, people of an even earlier period had experienced what I have been describing—all these feelings were awakened by the Plays. And as we turn from the description of the old Yuletide Festival to the medieval Christmas Plays, we ourselves can realise what warmth swept through the European peoples with the advent of Christianity. An impulse of a unique kind penetrated then into the hearts and souls of men.
Conditions now are, of course, different from those of earlier times, and in the nineteenth century these Plays were regarded simply as perquisites of erudition. Nevertheless it was a moving experience to make the acquaintance of older philologists and authorities on Germanic mythology and sagas, men who with intense enthusiasm devoted profound study to whatever fragments remained of the Christmas Plays that were performed in different regions. I myself had an elderly friend who during the fifties and sixties of last century had been a Professor at a College in Pressburg and while there had devoted a great deal of time to research among the Germanic peoples who had been driven from Western to Eastern Hungary. He also admired the charming customs and the language of the now Magyarised German gypsies and of other folk living at that time in Northern Hungary. It came to his knowledge that early Christmas Plays were still performed in a village near Pressburg. And he—I am speaking of my old friend Karl Julius Schröer—went to the village in an attempt to discover what vestiges of these old Plays still survived among the country people. Later on he told me a great deal about the wonderful impressions he had also received of what was left of Christmas Plays belonging to far, far earlier times.
In a certain village—Oberrufer was its name—there lived an old man in whose family it was an inherited custom when Christmas came near, to gather together those in the village who were suitable to be alloted parts in a Play in which the Gospels' story of Herod and the Three Kings would be presented in a simple way.
To understand the unique character of these Christmas Plays, however, we must have some idea of the kind of life led by simple folk in olden times. It now belongs to the past and must not be repeated. To make the gist of the matter clear, let me just put this question: Is there not a particular time of the year when the snowdrop flowers? Are there not for the lily-ofthe-valley and for the violet particular seasons when they take their own places in the macrocosm? Certainly, under glass they can be made to flower at other periods but it really gives one pain to see a violet flowering at a time other than that which properly belongs to it. There is little feeling for such things in our day but something of the kind can be said about the people of earlier times. What men felt during certain periods of the Middle Ages at the approach of autumn and of Christmas, when the dark nights were drawing on apace, what they felt in such a way that their intimate experiences were akin to the manifestations of Nature outside, akin to the snow and the snowflakes and the icicles forming on the trees—such feelings were possible only at the time of Christmas. It was a mood that imparted strength and healing power to the soul for the whole of the year. It renewed the soul, was a real and effective power. And how deeply one was moved a decade or so ago when the last indications of such feelings were still to be encountered here or there. From my own personal experience on the physical plane itself I can confirm that there were utterly good-for-nothing fellows who would not dare to be dissolute as the days shortened. At Christmastime those who were invariably the most quarrelsome, quarrelled less and those who quarrelled only now and then stopped quarrelling altogether. A real power was active in souls at that time of the year and these feelings abounded everywhere during the weeks immediately before the Holy Night.
What was it that people actually experienced during those weeks? Their experiences, translated into actual feelings, were that human beings had descended from a divine-spiritual existence to the deepest depth on the physical plane, that the Christ Impulse had been received and the direction of man's path reversed into one of reascent to divine-spiritual existence. That is what was felt in connection with everything to do with the Christ Event. Hence it was not only Christian happenings that people liked to present, but just as the Church calendar couples Adam and Eve's day on 24 December with the birthday of Jesus on the 25th, a performance of the Paradise Play was followed directly by the Play presenting Christ's birthday, denoting the impulse given for man's reascent to divine-spiritual existence. And this was deeply felt when the name EVA resounded in the Paradise Play – EVA, the mother of humanity, from whom men had descended into the vale of physical life. This theme was presented on one day and on the next there was a Play depicting the impulse which brought about the reversal of man's path. This reversal was indicated in the actual sounds: AVE MARIA. AVE was felt to be the reversal of EVA: AVE-EVA. People were deeply stirred by words which rang out countless times to their ears and hearts from the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth centuries onwards, and which were understood.
Ave maris stella Dei mater alma Atque semper virgo Felix coeli porta. Sumens illud Ave Gabrielis ore Funda nos in pace Mutans nomen Evae! |
Hail, star of the sea, Nursing mother of God Virgin for ever and ever, Blissful door to the heavens above. Adopting that ‘Ave’ Out of the mouth of Gabriel, Establish us in peace Altering the name of ‘Eva’. —Tr. by Owen Barfield |
It was felt that the Paradise Play must be performed in the mood of piety befitting the Holy Night of Christmas. This was a deep conviction, and as anthroposophists, when we hear how the performers in the Christmas Plays rehearsed, how they prepared themselves, how they behaved before and during the performances of the Plays, we may well say: Is this not reminiscent of the attitude to truth adopted in the Mysteries?—although that, admittedly, was a matter of even greater significance. We know that in the Mysteries truth could not be received in any superficial mood of soul. Those who are aware to some extent of the holiness of truth know how absurd it is to imagine that it could be found in the arid, prosaic lectures of modern times, lectures in which there is no longer any indication that truth must be sought by a pure, unsullied, well-prepared soul and that it will not be found by a soul inwardly unsanctified, whose feelings are not duly prepared for its reception. There is no longer any conception of this in our age of materialism when truth itself, in the way it is presented, has become utterly prosaic.
In the Mysteries, truth might be approached only after the soul had passed through probationary tests of purity, inner freedom and fearlessness. Are we not reminded of this when we hear of the old man whom Karl Julius Schröer had known, who while he was assembling his players demanded that they should observe the ancient rules. Anyone who has lived among village people knows what the first rule signifies. The first rule was that during the whole period of preparation none of the actors might visit a brothel. In the village this was a matter of tremendous importance, signifying that the task lying before the actors must be steeped in piety. Nobody, while he was rehearsing, might sing an unworthy song; that was another rule. Further, nobody should desire anything more than a good, honest livelihood. That was the third rule. And the fourth was that he who was the authentic guardian of the traditional Christmas Plays should in all things be obeyed. It was an office not willingly transferred to anyone else.
In the second half of the nineteenth century people collected these Plays, although by then the old feelings associated with them had vanished. Later on I myself came across indications of the piety and fervour of scholars who still had some contact with country folk living in the scattered provinces of Hungary, for example, and were collecting the old Plays and Songs. When I was once in Hermannstadt about Christmastime I found that the teachers at the Gymnasium (Grammar School) there had been busily collecting these Plays and I came across the Herod Play. And so in the second half of the nineteenth century it was still possible to find people who were gathering evidence of old customs in regions which I have mentioned in connection with the Yuletide Festival. Do not let us think of anything theoretical but let us picture this warm, magical breath of the Christmas mood presented in these Plays. We then have a conception of mankind's belief in divine-spiritual reality—a belief acquired through the Christ Impulse.
This deep study of the Christmas Plays was something that could be highly instructive for the present age when the realisation that Art is the offspring of piety, of religion and of wisdom has long since been lost! In these days, when people are apt to regard Art as being detached from everything else, when Art has degenerated, for example, into formalism, much could be learnt from considering how Art in all its aspects was once regarded as a flower of human life. Simple as was the presentation of these Christmas Plays, it nevertheless indicated a flowering of man's whole nature. In the first place, the boys taking part in the Plays must be God-fearing, must absorb into their whole character something that was like an essence of the Christmas mood. They were also obliged to learn how to speak in strict rhythm. At the present time, when the Art of speaking in the ancient sense has been lost, there is no inkling of the vitally important role played by rhythm and rhyme, or of how every movement and gesture of men otherwise accustomed only to handling flails were rehearsed in minutest detail. The actors devoted themselves for weeks on end to practising rhythm and intonation, and were wholly dedicated to what they were to present. For a true understanding of Art, much could be learnt from those customs today when we have forgotten to such an extent how to speak artistically that hardly more than the intellectual meaning of what we have to say is expressed. The essential charm of these old Christmas Plays, however, lay in the fact that in rhythm, intonation and gesture the whole man became articulate. It was indeed a significant experience to have witnessed even the last remnants of these customs.
When the Christmas days were over, the actors taking. the parts of the Three Holy Kings walked through the villages, but at no other time than immediately after Christmas. I still remember seeing the Three Kings going through the villages from house to house. They carried long strips of lattice work attached to shears, a star being fixed to the end of the lattice work. The star shot out when the shears were opened and the lattice work swung back in harmony with the rhythmic movements made by the Three Kings. The Kings wore the most primitive costumes imaginable but their way of bringing the appropriate facts to the notice of the people at the right time of the year and their complete forgetfulness of self, induced a mood of soul that will be utterly incomprehensible to our age unless there can be a spiritual awakening. What should awaken in us as the life of the spirit, transformed through Anthroposophy into Art, can be presented in Plays which transcend the normal standards of the present age. Such Plays will not necessarily be connected with festivals but will be concerned with what is eternal in the human soul, unrelated to any particular season.
The Christ Impulse that was a reality for the souls of a certain epoch could become for us a living experience. True, in a certain sense we are already deeply rooted in an age when materialism in the outer world has taken such a hold in every sphere that if this Christ Impulse is to be renewed, stimuli quite different from the simple methods employed in the Middle Ages are called for. A revitalisation of man's inner life is necessary. The goal of Anthroposophy should be to draw forth the deepest forces of the human soul, forces quite different from those indicated to us by the present Christmas symbols and customs. True as it is that through our Anthroposophy we can become aware of the breath of enchantment which filled men's hearts during performances of the Paradise and Christ-Plays and during all the experiences connected with the festival seasons, it behoves us also to face the other fact—that the eternal Spirit must live in ever new forms through the evolution of humanity. Hence the spectacle of the Christmas symbols should be an incitement to infuse into the Christmas mood the spirit of anthroposophical thinking. Those who have a right feeling of the mysteries of the Christmas night will be filled with hope as they look forward to what will follow the Christmas Festival as a second Festival: they will look forward to Easter, the Festival of Resurrection, when He who was born in the Christmas night will be victorious.
Thus we are convinced that all cultural life, all spiritual life must be pervaded and inwardly charged with anthroposophical conceptions, anthroposophical feeling, thinking and willing. In the future, my dear friends, there will either be an anthroposophical spiritual science or no science at all, only a kind of applied technology; in the future there will either be a religion permeated with Anthroposophy, or no religion at all, merely external ecclesiasticism. In the future, Art will be permeated with Anthroposophy or the various arts will cease to exist, because cut off from the life of the human soul they can have only a brief, ephemeral existence. So we look towards something that shines with the same certainty as Theodora's prophecy of the renewal of the vision of Christ in the first Mystery Play, The Portal of Initiation. With as great a certainty there stands before our souls the resurrection of the anthroposophical spirit in Science, Religion, Art and in the whole life of humanity. The great Easter Festival of mankind is arrayed before our foreshadowing souls.
We can understand that still there are ‘mangers’, still lonely places in which there will be born, as yet in the form typical of childhood, that which is to be resurrected among men. In the Middle Ages people were led into the houses and shown the manger—an imitation of the stable with the ox and the ass—where the Child Jesus lay near his parents and the shepherds, and the people looking on were told: There lies the hope for the future of mankind!
May all that we cultivate in our anthroposophical centres become in the modern age new mangers in which, under the guidance of the Being we call Christ Jesus, the new spirit may come to life. Today this new spirit is still at the stage of childhood, still being born as it were in the mangers which are the centres of anthroposophical activities, and bearing the pledge of victory—the pledge that we, as mankind, will celebrate the great Easter Festival, the Resurrection Festival of humanity in the new spirit which we already anticipate and for which we strive—the spirit of Anthrophosophy.
Die Julfestzeit, Die Christfest-Symbole Und Die Welthistorische Stimmung Anthroposophischer Vorstellungsart
Der Geist, durch dessen Aufnahme die menschliche Seele sich im Weltenlauf immer weiter und weiter entwickelt, ist ein ewiger. Aber die Art und Weise, wie er sich einlebt, wie er sich ausprägt in dem, was der Mensch auf der Erde empfinden, lieben und schaffen kann, diese Art ist von Epoche zu Epoche stets eine neue. Und darin besteht gerade des Menschen Aufgabe im Weltenlauf, dem Geist die aufeinanderfolgenden vielen Formen zu ermöglichen, durch die er die Leiter zu jenen Vollkommenheiten hinaufsteigt, die wir ahnen, und die wir eigentlich nur ahnen sollen, die wir nicht in zu deutliche Begriffe hineinpressen möchten. Wenn wir so an den Geist und an sein Werden im Menschheitslauf denken, dann treten die Ewigkeit und das Vergängliche vor unser seelisches Auge. Und in den besonderen Fällen des Lebens, da und dort, immer wieder und wieder, können wir sehen, wie dieses Ewige im Vergänglichen auftaucht, wie es im Vergänglichen sich ausprägt, um wieder zu verschwinden und in immer neuen Formen sich geltend zu machen. Was uns hier als Symbol unserer Weihnacht umgibt, können wir heute auch schon empfinden wie etwas, das vergangenen Formen angehört, das Ewige in der äußeren Welt im Sinnbild zu schauen. Denn wahrhaftig, wenn wir in der zweiten Dezemberhälfte in dieser unserer Gegenwart hinausgehen, namentlich in die Straßen der Großstadt, da draußen den Weihnachtsglanz und alles das sehen, was in die Häuser einladen soll, um das Christfest zu begehen, dann muß es einem Auge, das noch ästhetisch empfinden kann, schon weh tun, wenn es die Dinge des Weihnachtsmarktes ausgebreitet und mitten durch sie hindurchsausen sieht das, was im Grunde genommen nicht durch Weihnachtsbäume und Weihnachtssymbole sausen kann: Automobile, elektrische Straßenbahnen oder dergleichen. Die Dinge.gehören in einer gewissen Weise, so wie sie heute empfunden werden, nicht mehr zusammen. Noch tiefer wohl empfinden wir die Sache, wenn wir uns dann vergegenwärtigen, was dieses Weihnachtsfest geworden ist für viele der Menschen, die in den Großstädten die Träger der Bildung der Gegenwart sein wollen. Ein Geschenkfest, ein Fest, in dem wenig mehr von der Wärme, von der gründlichen Empfindungstiefe lebt, welche in einer noch nicht sehr fernen Vergangenheit um dieses bedeutungsvolle Weihnachtsfest herum vorhanden war: ein Geschenkfest ist es geworden. Unter den mancherlei Dingen, die uns das geben wollen, was wir unsere anthroposophische Weltanschauung, unsere anthroposophische Vorstellungsart nennen, sollten wohl wiederum die ganz warmen Empfindungen und Gefühle sein, welche die Menschenseele an den hohen Festtagen des alten Kirchenjahres durchzogen.
Und wir sollten wieder verstehen lernen, wie es notwendig für uns ist, notwendig ist für unsere Seelen, in gewissen Zeiten den ganzen Zusammenhang mit der großen Welt zu fühlen, aus welcher der Mensch herausgeboren ist, um unsere intellektuellen, unsere Gefühls- und auch unsere moralischen Kräfte zu erneuern. Denn ein solches Fest, wo alle Moral, wo alle Menschlichkeit erneuert werden konnte, war wirklich einmal das Christfest, ausbreitend in seinen Symbolen eine Wärme, von der sich die heutige Nüchternheit, die heutige Prosa des Lebens kaum mehr einen rechten Begriff macht. Uns aber könnte das Hineinversetzen in diese Symbole etwas sein, was uns ein wenig vor die Seele die Empfindungen, die Gesinnungen, die Gefühle rücken kann, die wir jener Auferstehung gegenüber selber haben können, die wir als die anthroposophische Auferstehung der Menschheit ahnen, und die wir daher auch gegenüber der Geburt des anthroposophischen Geistes in unserer Seele haben können. Und es gibt wohl eine Art von Verbindung zwischen den älteren Christgeburtsfest-Gedanken und den neueren anthroposophischen Gedanken von der Geburt unserer anthroposophischen Vorstellungen und Gesinnungen, des ganzen anthroposophischen Geistes in der Krippe unseres Herzens: es gibt eine solche Beziehung. Und vielleicht ist heute am ehesten der Anthroposoph imstande, sich zu vertiefen in das, was durch lange Zeiten hindurch gerade beim christlichen Weihnachtsfest gefühlt worden ist, was wiederum empfunden werden kann, wenn Ähnliches geboren werden wird aus der Atmosphäre, die uns heute schon einmal umgibt, aus der Atmosphäre des Materialismus der Gegenwart heraus.
Aber indem wir so anthroposophisch empfinden wollen über das Weihnachtsfest, können wir uns nicht bloß auf das beschränken, was christliches Weihnachtsfest war oder ist. Sondern wo wir auch hinblicken in der Welt und in wie ferne Zeiten der Vergangenheit wir auch blicken: etwas, das sich vergleichen läßt, heranbringen läßt in Gedanken und Empfindungen an das Weihnachtsfühlen, etwas dergleichen hat es im Grunde genommen allüberall gegeben. Wir wollen heute nicht weit gehen, wir wollen nur bis zu den Gefühlen und Empfindungen gehen, die vor der Einführung des Christentums etwa ein Mensch nun in unseren Gegenden selber, in den Gegenden Mitteleuropas haben konnte zu den Zeiten, die entsprechend waren jenen, in denen heute das Weihnachtsfest herankommt. Werfen wir einmal einen kurzen Blick zurück in jene Zeiten vor der Einführung des Christentums in Europa, in denen in verhältnismäßig rauher klimatischer Gegend unsere Vorfahren in Europa sich ihren Unterhalt namentlich dadurch schaffen mußten, daß sie den ganzen Sommer hindurch als eine Art Hirtenvölker oder Ackerbauvölker lebten, aber in innigem Zusammenhang ihrer Empfindungen und Gefühle mit der ganzen großen natürlichen Welt, in inniger Anbetung des Sonnenstrahls, in inbrünstiger Verehrung, die nicht Gedanke, die Gefühl und Hingebung war, in inbrünstiger Andacht gegenüber der großen Welt. Und wenn der alte Hirte oder Viehzüchter Europas draußen auf seinen rauhen Weiden war, im glühenden Sonnenstrahl oftmals, dann empfand er nicht nur etwa das äußerlich Physisch-Natürliche, dann empfand er einen innigen Zusammenhang seines ganzen Wesens mit dem, was ihm in der Physiognomie der Natur entgegenleuchtete. Er lebte mit seinem ganzen Herzen in der Natur darin. Nicht nur, daß in seinem Auge die physischen Sonnenstrahlen das Licht zurückwarfen: in seinem Herzen entzündete das Sonnenlicht geistig das, was Sommerjubel, Sommerjauchzen war, und was sich im Grunde genommen zusammendrängte in jenen Feuern, die dann zu.den Johannifeuern geworden sind im Sommer. Da wollte die ganze Natur aus Menschenherzen aufjauchzen, der Geist der Natur widerklingen aus Menschenherzen.
So empfand man das Jahr hindurch. Und so empfand man sich in inniger Gemeinschaft auch mit der Tierwelt, die man hütete. Dann kam der Herbst, dann kamen die Zeiten, in denen es streng winterlich wurde. Ich gedenke dabei jener Zeiten, in denen rauhe Winter über das Land hingingen, von deren Rauheit sich die gegenwärtige Menschheit wenig Vorstellung macht. Da mußte mit Ausnahme des Notwendigsten das letzte Stück Vieh geschlachtet werden. Da wurde es still in allem äußeren Leben, da war es wirklich so, daß etwas in die Menschenherzen einzog, was man wie eine Art von Tod, von Finsternis nennen konnte gegenüber alledem, was den Sommer hindurch als Stimmung diese Herzen durchzog. Das waren die Zeiten, in denen wirklich noch ein Nachklang alter hellseherischer Kräfte gerade durch die ganze Eigenart des Klimas und der Natur in Mitteleuropa vorhanden war. Die Menschen, die im Sommer jubelten und jauchzten, so als ob die Natur selber in ihren Herzen gejauchzt und gejubelt hätte, dieselben Menschen konnten im Winter, namentlich dem heranziehenden Winter gegenüber, stille, ruhig in sich werden, konnten aufgehen lassen in ihrem eigenen Inneren etwas von der Stimmung, die den Menschen überkommen sollte, wenn er mit Außerachtlassung aller äußeren Welt in seine eigene innere Welt einzieht, um das innere Göttliche zu empfinden, zu fühlen.
Also die Natur selber hat der alten europäischen Bevölkerung die Möglichkeit gegeben, aus dem Leben in der Außenwelt voll einzutauchen in das eigene Innere. Dieses Herabsteigen in Tod und Finsternis empfand man, wenn der November herankam, durch Wochen hindurch als Festzeit, das empfand man als das Herandämmern dessen, was man Julfestzeit nannte. Und das, was sich anschloß an diese Stimmung, war etwas, was uns so recht zeigen kann, wie lange im Grunde genommen das Andenken an die alten hellseherischen Zustände aller Völker gerade in Mittel- und Nordeuropa heimisch geblieben ist. Was dann folgte in der Zeit, in der etwa unser Januar und Februar herankommt, war so, daß die Menschen ein Durchdrungensein ihres Inneren mit Vorboten des neuen natürlichen Jubels empfanden, der neuen natürlichen Auferstehung. Das empfanden sie jetzt wie einen Vorboten dessen, was sie in der Außenwelt erleben sollten, da noch Schnee die Weiden bedeckte, da noch Eis an den Bäumen war, da außen in der Natur noch nichts zu sehen war von der Ankündigung der frohen Macht, was jetzt vor der Ankündigung der frohen Macht noch ein ganz Bei-sich-Sein, ganz In-sich-Ruhen ist. Das verwandelte sich in der Seele so, daß der Mensch von sich selber loskam.
Dieser Zwischenzustand, der beim Herannahen dessen, was wir heute Frühling nennen, von unseren Altvordern empfunden worden ist, wurde so empfunden, wie etwa der Hellseher seinen Astralleib empfindet, wenn dieser Astralleib nicht ganz gereinigt und geläutert ist. Das wurde so empfunden wie ein Erfülltsein des geistigen Horizontes mit allerlei Tiergestaiten. Und das suchten diese Menschen auch zum Ausdrucke zu bringen. Das bildete für sie einen Übergang von der eigentlichen tiefen Festesstimmung des herannahenden Winters zu jener Stimmung, die wiederum im Sommer die Seele überkommen sollte. Sie ahmt symbolisch nach, was des Menschen Astralleib zeigt, ahmt nach in ausgelassenen Spielen, in ausgelassenen Tänzen, in Tiermasken diesen Übergang von dem ganz In-sich-selber-Ruhen zu dem jauchzenden Aufgehen in der großen Natur. So war es.
Wenn wir uns in so etwas vertiefen, wenn wir uns denken, daß in eine solche Stimmung Volksgemüt und Volkssinn über weite, weite Kreise hin ganz eingetaucht war, dann verstehen wir, wie auch da auf diesem Boden vorhanden war das Fühlen des Hinuntertauchens in die äußerliche physische Finsternis, in den äußerlich physischen Tod der Natur; wie allerdings noch voll empfunden worden ist, daß gerade in diesem Untertauchen in den physischen Tod der Natur, in die physische Finsternis das höchste Licht des Geistes gegeben werden kann. Und wie sich unmittelbar verwandelt die Stimmung des Untertauchens in den physischen Tod in die ausgelassene Stimmung, welcher Ausdruck gegeben worden ist in Tiermasken, in den ausgelassenen Tänzen und ausgelassener Musik. Wie allerdings noch nicht vorhanden war das volle Gefühl, daß der Mensch dann, wenn er das äußerste, das höchste Licht finden soll, er es in der innersten Tiefe suchen muß; wie aber durch die innige, hingebungsvolle Verbindung mit allen Kräften, mit allem Weben und Leben der Natur ein Boden geschaffen war, in den hineingesenkt werden konnte, was der Menschheit für ihre Evolution durch den Christus-Impuls verkündet werden sollte. Man brauchte den Empfindungen und den Gefühlen dieser über die europäischen Gegenden ausgebreiteten Menschen gleichsam nur zu sagen — allerdings nicht in abstrakten, trockenen, philiströsen Worten, sondern so, daß das, was man sagen wollte, im Symbolum zum Gemüte sprach —, man brauchte nur begreiflich zu machen: Da, wo ihr hinuntertaucht in die Finsternis, in den Tod der äußeren Natur, da könnt ihr, wenn ihr eure Seele geeignet macht, in der richtigen Art zu empfinden und zu fühlen, ein ewiges, ein unvergängliches Licht finden. Und dieses Licht, das ist in die Menschheitsentwickelung hereingebracht worden durch das, was durch das Mysterium von Golgatha, was durch die Ereignisse von PaJästina innerhalb dieser Menschheitsentwickelung aufgetaucht ist.
Es ist charakteristisch, daß man es in den nächsten Jahrhunderten dahin hat bringen können, daß innerhalb Europas am innigsten, am herzlichsten der Christus-Impuls hat empfunden werden können an dem kindlichen Christus, an der Geburt des Christkindes. Wie muß man, wenn man der Menschheit überhaupt eine Aufgabe in der Evolution zuerteilen will, diese Menschenaufgabe empfinden? Nicht anders als so, daß der Mensch seinen Ursprung genommen hat von einem Göttlich-Geistigen, daß er zurückschauen kann auf seinen göttlich-geistigen Ursprung, daß er aber von diesem göttlich-geistigen Ursprung immer tiefer und tiefer heruntergestiegen ist, immer mehr und mehr verwandt und verwoben worden ist der äußeren physischen Materie, dem äußeren physischen Plan. Dann aber muß man empfinden, wie der Mensch wiederum den Weg umgekehrt machen kann durch den mächtigen Impuls, den wir den Christus-Impuls nennen. Wie er umkehren kann und wiederum mit Überwindung dessen, was ihn in die physische Welt hineingeführt hat, den Weg von unten nach oben in die geistigen Höhen gehen kann.
Wenn man das empfindet, sagt man sich: So wie dieses menschliche Ich innerhalb der physischen Leiblichkeit ist, wie dieses menschliche Ich heute ist, ist es herabgestiegen aus göttlich-geistigen Höhen und fühlt sich verwoben und verstrickt in die Welt des äußeren physischen Planes. Aber diesem Ich liegt ein anderes zugrunde: dem schuldvoll gewordenen Ich gleichsam das unschuldige Ich. Wo tritt uns denn dasjenige Ich, das noch nicht in die physische Welt verwoben ist, zunächst wenigstens annähernd entgegen? Da wo wir — wenn wir zurückblicken in unser eigenes Leben, wie es zwischen Geburt und Tod verläuft uns zurückerinnern bis zu dem Augenblick, wo unser Ich-Bewußtsein in einem gewissen Zeitpunkt der ersten Jahre auftritt. Das Ich ist da, wenn der Mensch sich auch nicht erinnert, es ist vorhanden und lebt und webt innerhalb von uns auch da, wo die Ich-Vorstellung noch nicht aufgetreten ist, da wo dieses Ich, das herumsieht in der Außenwelt, sich mit dem physischen Plan verwebt, wo die Ich-Vorstellung noch nicht da ist, wo aber das Ich da ist im kindlichen, unschuldvollen Zustand; das Ich, das wohl als ein Ideal dastehen kann, welches wieder erreicht werden soll, nur mit Durchdrungensein von all dem, was der Mensch erleben kann in dieser Schule des physischen Lebens auf der Erde. Und so kann dann im Menschenherzen gefühlt werden mit innerer Wärme, wenn es auch der nüchterne Verstand nur schwierig in Worte wird fassen können, das Ideal: Werde so, wie dein Ich ist, wenn es noch nicht die Ich-Vorstellung hat. Werde so, wie du werden könntest, wenn du hineinflüchten würdest in dein kindliches Ich. In all das, was dein späteres Ich erwirbt, leuchtet dann das Kindheits-Ich. - Und indem wir es als Ideal empfinden, leuchtet es in dem Jesus von Nazareth, in den der Christus später hineinverkörpert worden ist.
Von solchen Empfindungen aus können wir verstehen, wie ein inniger Zug von Menschenwachstum, von Menschenweiterentwickelung die Gemüter der einfachsten Leute über ganz Europa hin hat ergreifen können bei dem Anblick der Verkörperung desjenigen Menschen, der reif werden konnte, den Christus in sich aufzunehmen. So sehen wir, daß es ein wirklicher Fortschritt, ein gewaltiger Fortschritt war, als in die Empfindungen des alten Julfestes hineingetragen wurden die Empfindungen, die sich an das Jesus-Geburtstagsfest anknüpfen. Es war ein gewaltiger Fortschritt. Wir können diesen Fortschritt vielleicht dadurch bezeichnen, daß wir sagen: In jenen Finsternissen, in denen zunächst die Seele sich sammeln wollte, um sich vorzubereiten für das Jubeln und Jauchzen des neuen Sommers, in jener Finsternis wurde angezündet das Licht des Christus Jesus.
Einen Nachklang dessen, was da mit der europäischen Bevölkerung eigentlich geschehen ist, empfinden wir noch in dem, was für das 19. Jahrhundert, wenigstens in seiner zweiten Hälfte, kaum noch etwas anderes war als ein Gegenstand gelehrter Forscher und Sammler. Einen Nachklang empfinden wir noch in den alten Weihnacht-, in den Christspielen. Solche Christspiele, solche Weihnachtspiele wurden in einer eigenartigen Weise schon in alten mittelalterlichen Zeiten um die Weihnachtszeit herum gespielt. Durch sie wurde all der Empfindungsgehalt wachgerufen, all das, was die Seele um diese Zeit an Leben haben konnte über dieselben Strecken hin, auf denen die Leute noch älterer Zeiten beim Herannahen des Julfestes das empfunden haben, was ich Ihnen vorhin charakterisierte. Und wenn wir den Blick hinwenden von den charakterisierten alten Julfesten zu den Weihnachtspielen des Mittelalters, empfinden wir so recht, was für ein warmer Impuls mit dem Christentum in die europäische Bevölkerung eingeschlagen ist. Ja, da hat sich etwas ganz besonderes in die Herzen, in die Seelen hineingesenkt.
Es ist jetzt nicht mehr wie früher. Im 19. Jahrhundert war es nurmehr ein Gegenstand gelehrter Sammler. Trotzdem hatte es etwas Rührendes, wenn man die ältere Sorte deutscher Philologen, deutscher Sprachphilologen und Sagenphilologen und Mythenforscher noch gekannt hat, die nicht mit Gleichgültigkeit, sondern mit Liebe, mit inniger Liebe sich noch vertieft haben in das, was aus früheren Jahrhunderten als Weihnachtspiele in verschiedenen Gegenden geblieben ist. Ich selber hatte ja zu einem alten Freunde einen solchen Sammler, der längere Zeit in den fünfziger, sechziger Jahren des verflossenen Jahrhunderts Professor an einer Preßburger Oberrealschule war, der dort lange Zeit Forschungen angestellt hat über die von dem Westen nach dem ungarischen Osten verschlagene germanische Bevölkerung, der vertraut war mit jenen eigentümlichen Reizen der Gebräuche und der Sprache zugleich der in Nordungarn damals noch lebenden, jetzt magyarisierten Zipser Deutschen und dergleichen. Der erfuhr auch einmal, daß in der Nähe von Preßburg in einem verschlagenen Dorf noch Weihnachtspiele lebten. Und er, ich meine meinen alten Freund Karl Julius Schröer, ging hin und versuchte dahinter zu kommen, was da aus alten Zeiten noch im Volke lebte. Er hat mir manches später von den wunderbaren Eindrücken erzählt, die er da bekommen hat von den letzten Ruinen, die von Weihnachtspielen aus viel, viel älteren Zeiten geblieben waren. Da war in einem Dorf ein alter Mann. In dessen Familie hatte sich fortgeerbt als Brauch, wenn die Weihnachtszeit herankam, diejenigen zu sammeln, die im Dorfe geeignet waren, ein Weihnachtspiel aufzuführen, ein Weihnachtspiel, in dem in schlichter Art vorgetragen werden sollte, was eben die Weihnachtsgeschichte ist, was uns die Evangelien als die Weihnachtsgeschichte, als die Herodes- und Drei-Königs-Geschichte erzählen. Wenn man aber das ganz Eigenartige solcher Weihnachtspiele verstehen will, dann muß man einen Begriff davon haben, wie das Leben in der einfachen Bevölkerung noch in älteren Zeiten war. Das ist jetzt vorüber, das soll auch nicht wieder zurückgebracht werden. Wenn ich bezeichnen möchte, worauf es hier ankommt, dann könnte ich eigentlich nicht anders sagen als: Hat nicht das Schneeglöckchen eine bestimmte Zeit des Jahres, indem es blüht, oder das Maiglöckchen oder das Veilchen eine bestimmte Zeit, indem es sich in den ganzen Makrokosmos hineinstellt? Gewiß, im Glashaus können Sie es zu anderen Zeiten zum Blühen bringen, aber es tut eigentlich weh, wenn man das blühende Veilchen deplaciert in einer anderen Zeit empfinden soll als da, wo es in den ganzen Makrokosmos hineingestellt ist. Es ist wenig Stimmung für solche Dinge in unserer jetzigen Zeit vorhanden, aber es ist etwas Ahnliches um den Menschen in älteren Zeiten. Was die Menschen in gewissen Zeiten des Mittelalters hindurch haben empfinden können, wenn der Herbst und die Weihnachtszeit herannahte, wenn die dunklen Nächte kamen, was da die Menschen haben so empfinden können, daß sich ihre Herzenserlebnisse hineinstellten in alles, was draußen in der Natur lebt, daß diese Erlebnisse paßten zu dem Schnee draußen und den Schneeflocken und den Eiszapfen an den Bäumen, was da empfunden werden konnte, das konnte eben nur zur Weihnachtszeit empfunden werden. Das war eine ganz besondere Stimmung, das war etwas, was der Seele Stärkung, Heilkraft für das ganze Jahr hindurch gab. Das erneuerte die Seele wirklich, das war eine reale Macht. Wenn man vor Jahrzehnten da oder dort noch die letzten Reste dieser Empfindungen hat beobachten können, sind diese Empfindungen einem schon entgegengetreten. Und ich möchte es als eine durchaus äußere Erfahrung auf dem physischen Plan von mir aus sagen, daß man noch die losesten, die nichtsnutzigsten Burschen finden konnte, die immerhin dann, wenn die Tage kürzer wurden, in ihrer Seele sich nicht getraut haben, unfromm zu sein. Die sonst am meisten gerauft haben, die rauften am wenigsten, und die, die wenig gerauft haben, die rauften gar nicht um die Weihnachtszeit. Es war eine reale Macht, die da in den Seelen lebte. Und in diese ganze Empfindungswelt war eingetaucht der Zeitraum in den Wochen um die heilige Weihnacht herum.
Denn, was empfand man da? Was man da empfand, das war wirklich, in Empfindungen, in Gefühlen zusammengedrängt: Herabstieg der Menschen von göttlich-geistigen Höhen zu dem tiefsten Punkt auf dem physischen Plan. Empfangen des Christus-Impulses, Umkehr des Menschenweges, Hinaufstieg zu göttlich-geistigen Höhen. — Das empfand man an alledem, was mit dem Christus-Ereignis zusammenhing. Daher stellte man wohl gerne nicht nur die christlichen Ereignisse dar, sondern wie man zusammengekoppelt hat in dem Kalender den Adam- und Eva-Tag am 24. Dezember und den Jesus-Geburtstag am 25. Dezember, so führte man ein Paradeisspiel auf und unmittelbar daran anschließend das Christ-Geburtstagsspiel, darstellend den Impuls des Aufstieges des Menschen wiederum in die göttlich-geistigen Höhen hinauf. Das empfand man tief, wenn aus dem Paradeisspiel erklang der Name: Eva! — die Menschheitsmutter, von der die Menschen abstammten, die dann in das Tal des physischen Lebens heruntergestiegen sind. Das hörte man an einem der Tage, und am nächsten Tage die Umkehrung des Menschenweges. Das ist ja schon angedeutet in jenem Laute, der diese Umkehrung ausdrücken wollte: Ave Maria! Ave empfand man als die Umkehrung von Eva: Ave - Eva. Das ging den Leuten tief zu Herzen, wenn sie so etwas hörten, wie etwa die Worte, die unzählige Male erklangen an die Ohren und Herzen, von dem 5., 6., 7., 8. Jahrhundert an, und die man verstand.
Was wir also etwa wie folgend sagen würden:
Ave maris stella Dei mater alma Atque semper virgo Felix coeli porta. Sumens illud Ave Gabrielis ore Funda nos in pace Mutans nomen Evae! |
Ave, Stern des Meeres, Göttlich junge Mutter Und ewige Jungfrau, Du glückliche Pforte des Himmels. Nehmend jenes Ave Als eine Gabe Gabriels, Wurdest du uns die Grundlage zum Frieden, Indem du umwendetest Den Namen Eva! |
Und in dem, was man aufführte als Paradeisspiele, empfand man etwas, das in Weihnachts-, in heilige Stimmung getaucht sein mußte. Ja, das empfand man tief, und man darf das wohl unter Anthroposophen sagen: Erinnert es uns nicht etwas an die Art und Weise, wie man - freilich ist das etwas Größeres — in den Mysterien der Wahrheit gegenübersteht, wenn wir schildern hören die Art und Weise, wie die Mitspielenden an den Weihnachtspielen probten, sich vorbereiteten, sich benahmen vor und während der Weihnachtspiele? Wir wissen: die Mysterien werden so gedacht, daß man die Wahrheit nicht in nüchterner Weise empfängt, die von jeder menschlichen Stimmung durchdrungen sein kann. Unsinnig ist es für den, der etwas von der _ Heiligkeit der Wahrheit empfindet, daß in den prosaischen, nüchternen Lehrsälen der Gegenwart wirklich die Wahrheit gefunden werden könnte. Da hat man keinen Begriff mehr davon, daß die Wahrheit mit geläuterter, mit reiner, mit vorbereiteter Seele gesucht werden soll; daß eine Seele die Wahrheit nicht findet, wenn sie nicht in ihrem Innersten erst geheiligt ist, sich nicht in ihren Empfindungen dazu vorbereitet. Davon hat man heute, wo die Wahrheit für den Materialismus das Prosaischeste geworden ist, keinen Begriff mehr. In den Mysterien nahte man sich der Wahrheit, nachdem die Prüfungen der Seele auf ihre Reinheit, auf ihre Freiheit, auf ihre Furchtlosigkeit durchgemacht worden waren. Und man möchte sagen: Erinnert es uns nicht daran, wenn noch der alte Mann, den Karl Julius Schröer kennenlernte, von seinen Sängern, die er sammelte, das Einhalten der alten Regeln verlangte? Wer unter Leuten auf dem Dorfe gelebt hat, weiß, was die erste Regel bedeutet. Die erste Regel war, daß während der ganzen Vorbereitungen, die gepflogen werden sollten, keiner der Mitspielenden zu einem Dirndl gehen darf. Das bedeutet auf dem Dorfe etwas Ungeheueres, es bedeutet das Eingetauchtsein in Frömmigkeit dessen, was man vorhatte. Keiner durfte, während er probte, ein Schelmenlied singen, das war die andere Regel. Keiner durfte etwas anderes wollen, als sich eines guten, ehrbaren Lebenswandels befleißigen, das war die dritte Regel. Und der vierte Punkt war der, daß er in allen Dingen dem folgen mußte, in dessen Hand die Tradition des Weihnachtspieles war, die man nicht gerne auslieferte.
In der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts haben Leute diese Dinge gesammelt, denn da sind die alten Empfindungen eben verflogen. Später trat mir dann wiederum noch einmal auch etwas von der ganzen Pietät, von der ungeheuren Innigkeit entgegen, mit der diejenigen, die als Gelehrte noch etwas mit dem Volke verwoben waren und zum Beispiel in den versprengten Sprachinseln Ungarns geblieben sind, die alten Spiele und Lieder sammelten. Es trat mir, als ich um die Weihnachtszeit in Hermannstadt war, wo die Hermannstädter Gymnasiallehrer sich viel beschäftigt hatten mit dem Sammeln von solchen Spielen, das Herodesspiel entgegen. Und so konnte man sozusagen in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts noch die Sammler dessen kennenlernen, was auf dem Boden lebendig war, den ich in bezug auf die Julfeste charakterisiert habe. Stellen wir uns nicht irgend etwas Theoretisches vor, sondern diesen warmen Zauberhauch von Weihnachtsstimmung, wie er in diesen Weihnachtspielen lebte. Wir bekommen dadurch zugleich einen Begriff von der Regeneration des Menschen, von dem Glauben des Menschen durch den Christus-Impuls an ein Göttlich-Geistiges. Solch Einstudieren von Weihnachtspielen, oh, das war etwas, was uns wirklich sehr lehrreich sein könnte für die Gegenwart, wo man den Begriff, wie die Kunst herauswächst aus Frömmigkeit, aus Religion, aus Weisheit, längst verloren hat. Heute, wo man in der Kunst so gerne etwas von allem übrigen Losgelöstes sehen will, wo die Kunst zum Beispiel zum Formalismus ausgeartet ist, heute könnte man viel lernen von der ganzen Art und Weise, wie die Kunst eine Blüte der Menschheit war. So einfach sie in diesen Weihnachtspielen auftrat, sie war eine Blüte des ganzen Wesens des Menschen. Zuerst mußten die Buben, welche die Spiele aufführten, fromm sein, zuerst mußten sie in ihren ganzen Menschen etwas wie einen Extrakt von der ganzen Weihnachtsstimmung aufnehmen. Dann aber mußten sie in einer streng geregelten Weise rhythmisch sprechen lernen. Heute, wo man überhaupt die Kunst des Sprechens im alten Sinne verloren hat, wo man keine Ahnung mehr hat, wie der Reim eine ungeheure Rolle spielt und der Rhythmus eine solche Rolle spielt, wie jede Bewegung dieser sonst den Dreschflegel handhabenden Menschen, wie jede Geste dieser Menschen einstudiert war bis auf das einzelnste hin, wie sie ganz darin standen durch Wochen in Rhythmus, in Tonung, in Hingegebensein an das, was sie darstellen sollten —- man könnte für ein wirkliches Verständnis der Kunst gerade heute unendlich viel davon lernen, heute, wo man zum Beispiel das künstlerische Sprechen soweit verlernt hat, daß kaum noch nach etwas anderem als dem Sinn gesprochen wird, während damals in diesen Weihnachtspielen gerade das Reizvolle das war, daß Rhythmus, Ton, Geste, der ganze Mensch sprach. Es war wirklich noch groß, selbst die letzten Ruinen zu sehen.
Wenn die Weihnachtstage vorbei waren, gingen die Heiligen Drei Könige herum, zu keiner anderen Zeit als der Zeit nach Weihnachten. Ich erinnere mich noch selbst, wie ich in den Dörfern die Drei Könige herumgehen gesehen habe. Sie gingen von Haus zu Haus. Sie hatten an einer Schere einen Stern. Er wurde durch das Ausziehen der Schere weithin geschleudert. Das Abschleudern stand im Einklang mit dem Rhythmus dieser Drei Könige, die in der primitivsten Weise angezogen waren, die aber durch die ganze Art und Weise, wie sie in der richtigen Zeit die betreffenden Dinge durch das Volk trugen, wie sie in Selbstvergessenheit darinnen lebten, volle Festesstimmung vorbereiteten. Unsere Zeit kann das gar nicht mehr verstehen, wenn nicht wiederum Stimmung dafür erweckt werden kann, daß aus dem, was in uns erwachen soll als Leben des Geistes, durch die Anthroposophie in Kunst umgesetzt uns entgegentreten darf etwas in der Art von über die Zeit hinausgehobenen Spielen, wie es gegenüber der Gegenwart sein muß, die aber dann auch sich nicht anlehnen können an Festzeiten, sondern die nur mit dem Ewigen, mit dem an keine Jahreszeit gebundenen Ewigen der Menschenseele zu tun haben müssen.
Es konnte in uns lebendig werden, was für diese Seelen praktisch wurde: der Christus-Impuls in einer bestimmten Zeit. Ja, wir sind in einer gewissen Weise doch schon tief in der Zeit darinnen, in welcher der Materialismus in der Außenwelt so sehr alle Kreise ergriffen hat, daß ganz andere Impulse notwendig sind, um diesen Christus-Impuls zu erneuern, als die einfachen Impulse, die im Mittelalter gewirkt haben. Eine Erneuerung des menschlichen Inneren ist notwendig, wie die Anthroposophie sie anstreben soll, ein Heraufholen der tiefsten Kräfte der menschlichen Seele, ganz anderer Kräfte noch, als die waren, die uns in den Weihnachtssymbolen, in den Weihnachtsfestgebräuchen entgegengetreten sind. Und so wahr, wie wir gerade durch unsere Anthroposophie lernen können das zu erfühlen, was wie ein Zauberhauch durch die Herzen zog in der Aufführung von Paradeis- und Christspielen, in alledem, was zu diesen Festzeiten durch die Herzen zog, so wahr wir das durch die Anthroposophie empfinden können, so aufrichtig sollen wir der anderen Tatsache gegenüberstehen, daß der ewige Geist in immer neuer Form in der Menschheitsentwickelung sich ausleben muß. Daher soll uns der Anblick der Christfestsymbole ein Ansporn dazu werden, aufzunehmen in Christfeststimmung, was die welthistorische Stimmung anthroposophischer Vorstellungsart in unseren Herzen sein kann.
Sieht doch der, welcher die Geheimnisse der Christnacht in der richtigen Art empfindet, hoffnungsvoll hin auf das, was als ein zweites Fest auf das Weihnachtsfest folgen soll, sieht er doch aufs Osterfest, auf das Auferstehungsfest, wo Sieger sein soll das, was geboren wird in der Weihnacht. Und so haben wir die Überzeugung von der Notwendigkeit, daß alles geistige Leben, daß alles Kulturleben überhaupt durchdrungen und durchsättigt werden muß von dem, was wir anthroposophische Vorstellung, anthroposophisches Fühlen und Denken und Wollen nennen. In der Zukunft, meine lieben Freunde, wird es entweder eine Geisteswissenschaft geben, oder es wird gar keine Wissenschaft geben, sondern nur eine äußere technische Praxis. In der Zukunft wird es eine von Anthroposophie durchdrungene Religion geben, oder es wird gar keine Religion geben, sondern nur äußeres Kirchentum. In der Zukunft wird es anthroposophisch durchdrungene Kunst geben, oder es wird gar keine Künste geben, denn Künste, die losgelöst von dem Leben der Menschenseele sein wollen, werden ein kurzes, ein ephemeres Dasein haben. So blicken wir auf etwas, das uns mit derselben Gewißheit entgegenleuchtet wie die Prophezeiung, die uns gegeben ist durch die Theodora in der «Pforte der Einweihung» von der Erneuerung des Christus-Anblickes. Mit eben solcher Gewißheit steht in unserer Seele die Auferstehung anthroposophischen Geistes in Wissenschaft, Religion, Kunst und allem Menschheitsleben. Das große Osterfest der Menschheit steht vor unserer ahnenden Seele.
Wir können verstehen, daß es wiederum Krippen gibt, wiederum gibt einsame, noch recht einsame Stätten, in denen noch in Kindheitsform das geboren wird, was unter den Menschen auferstehen soll. Im Mittelalter hat man die Menschen in die Häuser hineingeführt und ihnen die Krippe gezeigt, eine Nachahmung des Stalles mit Ochs und Esel, mit dem Jesuskind, seinen Eltern und den Hirten. Man hat ihnen gesagt: Da liegt die Hoffnung der Zukunft der Menschheit. — Lassen wir in unserer Seele das, was wir pflegen, was wir wollen innerhalb unserer anthroposophischen Arbeitsstätten, lassen wir das moderne neue Krippen sein, in denen unter der Führung desjenigen, den wir den Christus Jesus nennen, aufersteht der neue Geist, heute noch in Kindheitsform, heute noch auf der Stufe des Geborenwerdens in den einzelnen anthroposophischen Arbeitszweigen, in den Krippen, aber in sich tragend das Unterpfand, daß er Sieger sein wird, daß wir als Menschen durch ihn feiern können das große Osterfest der Menschheit, das Auferstehungsfest der Menschheit in einem neuen Geist, in dem Geist, den wir ahnen wollen, den wir erstreben wollen als den anthroposophischen Geist.
The Yule Festival, the Symbols of Christmas, and the World-Historical Mood of the Anthroposophical Way of Thinking
The spirit through whose reception the human soul develops further and further in the course of the world is eternal. But the way in which it takes root, the way in which it expresses itself in what human beings can feel, love, and create on earth, is always new from epoch to epoch. And this is precisely the task of human beings in the course of the world, to enable the spirit to take on the many successive forms through which it ascends the ladder to those perfections which we intuit and which we should really only intuit, which we do not want to press into too clear concepts. When we think in this way about the spirit and its development in the course of human history, eternity and transience appear before our spiritual eyes. And in the special cases of life, here and there, again and again, we can see how this eternal emerges in the transitory, how it manifests itself in the transitory, only to disappear again and assert itself in ever new forms. What surrounds us here as a symbol of our Christmas, we can already perceive today as something that belongs to past forms, as a symbol of the eternal in the outer world. For truly, when we go out in the second half of December in our present time, especially in the streets of the big city, and see the Christmas splendor and everything that is meant to invite us into the houses to celebrate Christmas, then it must hurt the eye that is still capable of aesthetic perception to see the things of the Christmas market spread out and rushing through them what cannot, in essence, rush through Christmas trees and Christmas symbols: automobiles, electric trams, and the like. In a certain sense, things as they are perceived today no longer belong together. We feel this even more deeply when we consider what Christmas has become for many of the people in the big cities who want to be the bearers of contemporary culture. A gift-giving festival, a festival in which little remains of the warmth and profound depth of feeling that existed in the not-too-distant past around this meaningful Christmas festival: it has become a gift-giving festival. Among the many things that seek to give us what we call our anthroposophical worldview, our anthroposophical way of thinking, there should once again be the very warm feelings and emotions that filled the human soul on the high feast days of the old church year.
And we should learn to understand again how necessary it is for us, how necessary it is for our souls, to feel at certain times the whole connection with the great world from which human beings were born, in order to renew our intellectual, emotional, and moral powers. For such a festival, where all morality, where all humanity could be renewed, was truly once the Christmas festival, spreading in its symbols a warmth of which today's sobriety, today's prose of life, can hardly form a proper concept. But for us, immersing ourselves in these symbols could be something that brings a little closer to our souls the feelings, attitudes, and emotions that we ourselves can have toward that resurrection, which we sense as the anthroposophical resurrection of humanity, and which we can therefore also have toward the birth of the anthroposophical spirit in our souls. And there is indeed a kind of connection between the older ideas of the Christmas festival and the newer anthroposophical ideas of the birth of our anthroposophical ideas and attitudes, of the whole anthroposophical spirit in the manger of our hearts: there is such a relationship. And perhaps today it is the anthroposophist who is best able to delve into what has been felt throughout the ages, especially during the Christian Christmas festival, and what can be felt again when something similar is born out of the atmosphere that already surrounds us today, out of the atmosphere of contemporary materialism.
But in wanting to feel anthroposophically about Christmas, we cannot limit ourselves to what Christian Christmas was or is. Wherever we look in the world, and however far back we look into the past, there is something that can be compared, that can be brought to mind and felt in the same way as the Christmas feeling; something similar has existed everywhere. We do not want to go far today; we only want to go back to the feelings and sensations that a person in our region, in Central Europe, could have had before the introduction of Christianity, at a time corresponding to the time when Christmas approaches today. Let us take a brief look back at those times before the introduction of Christianity in Europe, when our ancestors in Europe had to earn their living in a relatively harsh climate, mainly by living throughout the summer as a kind of pastoral or agricultural people, but in close connection with their feelings and emotions with the whole great natural world, in intimate worship of the sun's rays, in fervent reverence that was not thought, but feeling and devotion, in fervent devotion to the great world. And when the old shepherd or cattle breeder of Europe was out on his rough pastures, often in the blazing sun, he did not only perceive the external physical and natural, he felt an intimate connection between his whole being and what shone out at him in the physiognomy of nature. He lived with his whole heart in nature. Not only did the physical rays of the sun reflect light back into his eyes, but in his heart the sunlight spiritually ignited what was summer jubilation, summer rejoicing, and what basically gathered together in those fires that then became the St. John's fires in summer. All of nature wanted to rejoice from human hearts, the spirit of nature wanted to echo from human hearts.
This is how people felt throughout the year. And this is how they felt in intimate communion with the animal world they tended. Then came autumn, then came the times when it became harshly wintry. I remember those times when harsh winters swept across the land, the harshness of which modern humanity can hardly imagine. With the exception of the bare necessities, the last piece of livestock had to be slaughtered. Everything in external life became quiet, and it was truly the case that something entered people's hearts that could be described as a kind of death, of darkness, in contrast to the mood that had pervaded their hearts throughout the summer. Those were times when echoes of ancient clairvoyant powers were still present, precisely because of the unique climate and nature of Central Europe. The people who rejoiced and cheered in summer, as if nature itself were rejoicing and cheering in their hearts, the same people could become quiet and calm within themselves in winter, especially as winter approached, and could allow something of the mood that should overcome people when they withdraw from the external world into their own inner world to arise within themselves, in order to perceive and feel the divine within themselves.
Thus, nature itself gave the ancient European population the opportunity to immerse themselves fully in their own inner lives from their lives in the outer world. This descent into death and darkness was experienced as a festive season lasting for weeks when November approached, and was felt as the dawning of what was called the Yule festival. And what followed this mood was something that can really show us how long the memory of the ancient clairvoyant states of all peoples has remained alive, especially in Central and Northern Europe. What followed in the period around our January and February was that people felt their inner being permeated with harbingers of the new natural jubilation, the new natural resurrection. They now felt this as a harbinger of what they were to experience in the outer world, since snow still covered the pastures, ice still clung to the trees, and nothing in nature yet showed any sign of the coming of the joyful power, which before its announcement is still a state of complete being with oneself, of complete inner peace. This transformed the soul in such a way that people detached themselves from themselves.
This intermediate state, which was felt by our ancestors as the approach of what we now call spring, was felt in the same way as a clairvoyant feels his astral body when it is not completely purified and cleansed. It was felt as if the spiritual horizon were filled with all kinds of animal forms. And these people sought to express this. For them, this formed a transition from the actual deep festive mood of the approaching winter to the mood that would again overcome the soul in summer. It symbolically imitates what the human astral body shows, imitates in exuberant games, in exuberant dances, in animal masks, this transition from complete rest within oneself to jubilant blossoming in the great nature. That is how it was.
When we immerse ourselves in something like this, when we think that the mood and spirit of the people were completely immersed in such a mood over wide, wide circles, then we understand how the feeling of sinking into the outer physical darkness, into the outer physical death of nature, was also present on this soil; how, however, it was still fully felt that it is precisely in this immersion in the physical death of nature, in physical darkness, that the highest light of the spirit can be given. And how immediately the mood of immersion in physical death is transformed into the exuberant mood expressed in animal masks, in exuberant dances and exuberant music. However, the full feeling was not yet present that when man is to find the utmost, the highest light, he must seek it in his innermost depths; but through the intimate, devoted connection with all forces, with all the weaving and life of nature, a ground was created into which could be sunk what was to be proclaimed to humanity for its evolution through the Christ impulse. One only needed to tell the feelings and emotions of these people spread across the European regions — not in abstract, dry, philistine words, but in such a way that what one wanted to say spoke to the mind in symbols — one only needed to make it understandable: Where you descend into darkness, into the death of outer nature, there you can find an eternal, imperishable light if you prepare your soul to feel and sense in the right way. And this light has been brought into human evolution through what emerged through the Mystery of Golgotha, through the events of Palestine within this human evolution.
It is characteristic that in the following centuries it was possible to bring about a situation in Europe in which the Christ impulse could be felt most deeply and most heartily in the childlike Christ, in the birth of the Christ Child. If one wants to assign a task to humanity in evolution, how must one feel this task of humanity? There is no other way than to say that human beings originated from a divine-spiritual source, that they can look back to their divine-spiritual origin, but that they have descended deeper and deeper from this divine-spiritual origin, becoming more and more related to and interwoven with the outer physical matter, the outer physical plane. But then we must feel how human beings can reverse this path through the powerful impulse we call the Christ impulse. How they can turn back and, overcoming what led them into the physical world, walk the path from below to above, into the spiritual heights.
When we feel this, we say to ourselves: Just as this human I is within physical corporeality, just as this human I is today, it has descended from divine-spiritual heights and feels interwoven and entangled in the world of the outer physical plane. But underlying this I is another: the innocent I, as it were, in contrast to the I that has become guilty. Where do we first encounter, at least approximately, this I that is not yet interwoven with the physical world? There where we — when we look back on our own life as it unfolds between birth and death — remember back to the moment when our ego-consciousness appeared at a certain point in the first years of our life. The ego is there even if the human being does not remember it; it is present and lives and weaves within us even where the concept of the ego has not yet appeared, where this ego, looks around in the outer world, interweaves itself with the physical plane, where the concept of the I is not yet there, but where the I is there in a childlike, innocent state; the I that can stand as an ideal to be attained again, but only by being permeated by all that a human being can experience in this school of physical life on earth. And so, even if the sober mind finds it difficult to put into words, the ideal can be felt with inner warmth in the human heart: Become as your I is when it does not yet have the concept of the I. Become what you could become if you were to flee into your childlike self. The childhood self then shines through in everything that your later self acquires. And because we perceive this as an ideal, it shines in Jesus of Nazareth, in whom Christ was later incarnated.
From such feelings we can understand how a heartfelt impulse of human growth and development could seize the minds of the simplest people throughout Europe at the sight of the embodiment of the man who was able to mature to the point of taking Christ into himself. So we see that it was a real advance, a tremendous advance, when the feelings associated with the celebration of Jesus' birthday were carried over into the feelings of the old Yule festival. It was a tremendous advance. We can perhaps describe this progress by saying that in the darkness in which the soul first wanted to gather itself in order to prepare for the rejoicing and jubilation of the new summer, in that darkness the light of Christ Jesus was kindled.
We can still sense an echo of what actually happened to the European population in what was, at least in the second half of the 19th century, little more than a subject for scholarly researchers and collectors. We can still sense an echo in the old Christmas plays, the Christ plays. Such Christmas plays were performed in a unique way in medieval times around the Christmas season. They evoked all the feelings, all the life that the soul could experience at that time, in the same way that people in earlier times felt what I described earlier when the Yule festival approached. And when we turn our gaze from the ancient Yule festivals I have described to the Christmas plays of the Middle Ages, we can truly feel what a warm impulse Christianity brought to the European people. Yes, something very special sank into their hearts and souls.
It is no longer as it was in the past. In the 19th century, it was merely an object of scholarly collectors. Nevertheless, there was something touching about it when you knew the older generation of German philologists, German linguists, and mythologists, who did not approach it with indifference, but with love, with deep love, delving into what had remained from earlier centuries as Christmas plays in various regions. I myself had an old friend who was such a collector. He was a professor at a secondary school in Pressburg for a long time in the 1950s and 1960s where he spent a long time researching the Germanic population that had been displaced from the West to the Hungarian East. He was familiar with the peculiar charms of the customs and language of the Zipser Germans and the like, who were still living in northern Hungary at that time but have now been Magyarized. He also learned that Christmas plays were still being performed in a remote village near Pressburg. And he, I mean my old friend Karl Julius Schröer, went there and tried to find out what was still alive in the people from ancient times. He later told me many things about the wonderful impressions he had gained there from the last ruins that remained of Christmas plays from much, much older times. There was an old man in a village. It had been a custom in his family, when Christmas time came around, to gather those in the village who were suitable to perform a Christmas play, a Christmas play in which the Christmas story was to be presented in a simple manner, as told to us in the Gospels as the Christmas story, as the story of Herod and the Three Kings. But if you want to understand the unique nature of such Christmas plays, you have to have an idea of what life was like for the simple folk in earlier times. That is now over, and it should not be brought back. If I wanted to describe what is important here, I could only say: Doesn't the snowdrop have a certain time of year when it blooms, or the lily of the valley or the violet a certain time when they appear in the whole macrocosm? Of course, you can make them bloom at other times in a greenhouse, but it actually hurts to see the blooming violet out of place at a time other than when it is placed in the whole macrocosm. There is little feeling for such things in our time, but there was something similar for people in earlier times. What people in certain periods of the Middle Ages were able to feel when autumn and Christmas approached, when the dark nights came, what people were able to feel then, that their heart experiences were placed into everything that lives outside in nature, that these experiences fit with the snow outside and the snowflakes and the icicles on the trees, what could be felt there could only be felt at Christmas time. It was a very special mood, something that strengthened the soul and gave healing power for the whole year. It truly renewed the soul; it was a real power. If, decades ago, one could still observe the last remnants of these feelings here and there, these feelings already came to meet one. And I would like to say, as a thoroughly external experience on the physical plane, that one could find even the most dissolute, the most useless fellows who, when the days grew shorter, did not dare to be ungodly in their souls. Those who usually fought the most fought the least, and those who fought little did not fight at all around Christmas time. It was a real power that lived in people's souls. And the whole period around Christmas was immersed in this world of feelings.
For what did people feel then? What people felt there was really condensed into feelings and emotions: the descent of human beings from divine-spiritual heights to the lowest point on the physical plane. The reception of the Christ impulse, the reversal of the human path, the ascent to divine-spiritual heights. — That was what people felt in everything connected with the Christ event. That is why people were keen not only to depict Christian events, but also, as they had linked together in the calendar, Adam and Eve's Day on December 24 and Jesus' birthday on December 25, they performed a Paradise play and immediately afterwards the Christ Birthday play, depicting the impulse of humanity's ascent back up to the divine-spiritual heights. This was deeply felt when the name Eva resounded from the Paradise play—the mother of humanity, from whom human beings descended into the valley of physical life. This was heard on one of the days, and on the next day, the reversal of the human path. This is already hinted at in the sound that sought to express this reversal: Ave Maria! Ave was felt as the reversal of Eva: Ave — Eva. It touched people deeply when they heard something like this, such as the words that rang out countless times to their ears and hearts from the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries, and which they understood.
What we would say, for example, as follows.
Ave maris stella Dei mater alma Atque semper virgo Felix coeli porta. Sumens illud Ave Gabrielis ore Funda nos in pace Mutans nomen Evae! |
Ave, star of the sea, Divine young mother And eternal virgin, You happy gate of heaven. Taking that Ave As a gift from Gabriel, You became the foundation of peace for us, By changing The name of Eve! |
And in what was performed as Paradise plays, one sensed something that must have been steeped in the Christmas spirit, in a holy atmosphere. Yes, one felt this deeply, and one may well say this among anthroposophists: Does it not remind us somewhat of the way in which one stands before the mysteries of truth — admittedly, this is something greater — when we hear descriptions of the way in which the participants in the Christmas plays rehearsed, prepared themselves, and behaved before and during the Christmas plays? We know that the mysteries are conceived in such a way that one does not receive the truth in a sober manner, which can be permeated by every human mood. It is absurd for anyone who feels something of the sanctity of truth to believe that the truth can really be found in the prosaic, sober classrooms of the present day. There, one no longer has any concept that truth must be sought with a purified, pure, prepared soul; that a soul cannot find truth unless it is first sanctified in its innermost being, unless it has prepared itself for it in its feelings. Today, when truth has become the most prosaic thing for materialism, one no longer has any concept of this. In the mysteries, one approached the truth after the soul had been tested for purity, freedom, and fearlessness. And one might say: Does it not remind us of this when the old man whom Karl Julius Schröer met demanded that the singers he had gathered adhere to the old rules? Anyone who has lived among people in a village knows what the first rule means. The first rule was that during all the preparations that had to be made, none of the performers were allowed to go to a girl. In a village, this means something tremendous; it means being immersed in the piety of what one intends to do. No one was allowed to sing a bawdy song while rehearsing; that was the second rule. No one was allowed to want anything other than to lead a good, honorable life; that was the third rule. And the fourth point was that he had to follow in all things the person who held the tradition of the Christmas play in his hands, which was not something one was happy to relinquish.
In the second half of the 19th century, people collected these things because the old sentiments had faded away. Later, I was struck once again by the piety and tremendous sincerity with which those scholars who were still connected to the people and had remained in the scattered linguistic islands of Hungary, for example, collected the old plays and songs. When I was in Sibiu around Christmas time, where the high school teachers had been very busy collecting such games, I came across the Herod game. And so, in the second half of the 19th century, one could still meet the collectors of what was alive on the ground, which I have characterized in relation to the Christmas festivals. Let us not imagine something theoretical, but rather the warm, magical breath of Christmas spirit that lived in these Christmas plays. This gives us an idea of the regeneration of the human being, of the belief in the divine-spiritual through the Christ impulse. Rehearsing Christmas plays like this was something that could be very instructive for us today, when we have long since lost the concept of how art grows out of piety, religion, and wisdom. Today, when people in art are so keen to see something detached from everything else, when art has degenerated into formalism, for example, we could learn a lot from the whole way in which art was once a blossoming of humanity. As simple as it appeared in these Christmas plays, it was a blossoming of the whole human being. First, the boys who performed the plays had to be pious; first, they had to absorb something like an extract of the entire Christmas spirit into their whole being. But then they had to learn to speak rhythmically in a strictly regulated manner. Today, when the art of speaking in the old sense has been lost, when we no longer have any idea how important rhyme is and how important rhythm is, how every movement of these people, who otherwise wielded flails, how every gesture of these people was rehearsed down to the smallest detail, how they stood there for weeks in rhythm, in intonation, in devotion to what they were supposed to represent — one could learn an infinite amount from this for a real understanding of art, especially today, when artistic speech has been forgotten to such an extent that people hardly speak for anything other than meaning, whereas in those Christmas plays, the charm lay precisely in the fact that rhythm, tone, gesture, the whole person spoke. It was truly great to see even the last ruins.
When Christmas was over, the Three Kings went around, at no other time than the period after Christmas. I still remember seeing the Three Kings walking around in the villages. They went from house to house. They had a star on a pair of scissors. It was thrown far and wide by pulling the scissors apart. The throwing was in harmony with the rhythm of these Three Kings, who were dressed in the most primitive manner, but who, through the whole way in which they carried the relevant things among the people at the right time, and through the self-forgetfulness with which they lived in them, prepared a full festive mood. Our time can no longer understand this unless a mood can be awakened in which what is to awaken in us as the life of the spirit, through anthroposophy, can be translated into art and come to meet us in the form of plays that transcend time, as is necessary in relation to the present, but which cannot then lean on festive seasons, but only on the eternal, with the eternal in the human soul that is not bound to any season.
What became practical for these souls could come alive in us: the Christ impulse at a specific time. Yes, in a certain sense we are already deeply immersed in a time in which materialism has so completely taken hold in the outer world that completely different impulses are needed to renew this Christ impulse than the simple impulses that were effective in the Middle Ages. A renewal of the human inner life is necessary, as anthroposophy strives for, a bringing forth of the deepest forces of the human soul, forces quite different from those that met us in the symbols of Christmas, in the Christmas customs. And as we can learn to feel this through our anthroposophy, what swept through our hearts like a magical breath in the performance of Paradise and Christ plays, in everything that swept through our hearts during these festive seasons, as true as we can feel it through anthroposophy, so sincerely should we face the other fact that the eternal spirit must live out in ever new forms in human evolution. Therefore, the sight of the symbols of Christmas should inspire us to take into our hearts the mood of world history as it is reflected in anthroposophical thinking.
Those who perceive the mysteries of Christmas night in the right way look hopefully to what is to follow Christmas as a second festival; they look to Easter, the festival of resurrection, when what is born at Christmas is to be victorious. And so we are convinced of the necessity that all spiritual life, that all cultural life in general, must be permeated and saturated by what we call anthroposophical perception, anthroposophical feeling, thinking, and willing. In the future, my dear friends, there will either be spiritual science, or there will be no science at all, but only an external technical practice. In the future, there will be a religion permeated by anthroposophy, or there will be no religion at all, only outward churchgoing. In the future, there will be art permeated by anthroposophy, or there will be no art at all, for art that wants to be detached from the life of the human soul will have a short, ephemeral existence. Thus we look upon something that shines toward us with the same certainty as the prophecy given to us by Theodora in the “Gate of Initiation” concerning the renewal of the vision of Christ. With just such certainty, the resurrection of the anthroposophical spirit in science, religion, art, and all human life stands before our souls. The great Easter festival of humanity stands before our anticipating souls.
We can understand that there are again nativity scenes, again lonely, still quite lonely places where what is to be resurrected among human beings is born in a childlike form. In the Middle Ages, people were led into houses and shown the crib, an imitation of the stable with the ox and the donkey, with the baby Jesus, his parents, and the shepherds. They were told: There lies the hope of the future of humanity. Let us keep in our souls what we cultivate, what we want within our anthroposophical workplaces. Let us allow the modern new nativity scenes to be places where, under the guidance of the one we call Christ Jesus, the new spirit is resurrected, today still in childhood form, today still at the stage of being born in the individual anthroposophical branches of work, in the nativity scenes, but carrying within itself the pledge that it will be victorious, that we as human beings will be able to celebrate through it the great Easter festival of humanity, the festival of the resurrection of humanity in a new spirit, in the spirit that we want to sense, that we want to strive for as the anthroposophical spirit.