File:Luxembourg; the grand duchy and its people (1913) (14586442717).jpg

Identifier: luxembourggrandd00renw (find matches)
Title: Luxembourg; the grand duchy and its people
Year: 1913 (1910s)
Authors: Renwick, George
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, C. Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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here it stood untiltransferred to the Chapelle du Bildchen. And every year, on the Sunday before the Feastof the Assumption, the little imjage is carriedfrom the chapelle to the parish churich of Vianden,where it is kept until the Sunday after the Octave.Coming and going are effected with great ceremony,and large crowds of pilgrims follow the image onboth occasions. The wood which stretches from the chapelletowards Vianden Castle has always been the hauntof spirits and the place of religious ritual. Thevery name it has tells us that. It is Porbretchen.Por means the sacred wood, and Bret is Bert,Berthe or Berta, who is goddess of the moon at itsmost brilliant phases, called elsewhere Freia, themother of mighty Thor. So Porbretchen is the LittleSacred Wood of Berta, the White Lady of the Moon.Local tradition has it that the dynasty of Viandenwas founded by her, so into what mythologtical shadescan Kings and Queens of England trace back theirdescent ! Long ago the White Lady would appear
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CHAPELLE DU BILDCHEX. To face p. 258. VIANDEN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 259 to foretell the death of a member of the house whichshe founded, and even now it is said that you may-see her by night in the Sacred Wood. She drivesfour moon-white horses harnessed to a chariot ofcloud, and as she passes she invites the night-wan-derer to enter her carriage. And this be for warning.If you enter, she whips up her horses ; they rushforward till they reach the precipice at the foot ofwhich the road lies. Leaving earth, the chariot soarsinto the air and fades into nothingness. Next morn-ing you are discovered on the road ; and the goodfolks will call priest and police. You cannot turn in this neighbourhood withoutencountering some souvenir of pagan antiquity. Alittle way from the path we are now treading^^—anypasser-by will tell you exactly where to find it—isa spring called Hidelbour (Hildeborn or Holdabom),by the waters of which sacrifices and prayers wereoffered up to Holda, who protected the

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