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The offering box
The offering box
Sketch offering box
The offering box - Alemanic sacrificial site or place of the bus for monks and nuns? Helmut Schneckenburger looked into this question.
The offering box is in the Bergfelder Wald, Nonnenbühl district. About this beautiful carved limestone into an offering box with a size of 1.75 x 1.04 x 0.44 m is nowhere mentioned or written down in the Bergfeld history.
There are two versions by tradition:
Version 1: (backing by experts)
The sacrificial stick was created in the 3rd - 4th century AD, i.e. before the Christianization in our area. During this time the Alemanen came and ousted the Romans. The Alemanen hunted bears, deer, elk and small animals in the forests. So that people would achieve their salvation at this time, they sacrificed the blood of the animals in this sacrificial box.
Version 2:
There were meadows on the Gewann Nonnenbühl plateau, as well as on the Dicke (also called Dickefelder). These areas were grazed by the Kirchberg monastery (nunnery) and the Bernstein monastery (monks / forest brothers) in 1237.
The name Nonnenbühl can also come from this cultivation.
According to tradition, the nuns, as well as the monks, were very happy to have grazed the animals on this plateau, surrounded by forest. The shepherds mentioned had the only opportunity in their lives to meet the opposite sex during this work. There must also have been close human relationships.
Figure offering box
In order to calm the conscience, they made this offering box and offered their gifts or sharps.
The second version is not entirely understandable, because in the history of the Kirchberg nunnery it is expressed that the nuns were not allowed to leave the monastery walls, this was only allowed for their servants.
Author: Helmut Schneckenburger