Easter Water- The Legend of Osterwasser

I received a message from Paul Von Stache, who told me a story I’d never heard before, The Legend of Osterwasser or Easter Water. He learned about it at an estate auction of an older woman in his hometown who originally came from Pomerania, Germany. One of the items up for auction was a brown glass gallon jug with a yellowed paper tag attached to the handle. The tag said “Oster Wasser”. How odd. What was Easter Water? It’s funny how old, lost German traditions can pop up sometimes where you least expect.

Easter Water- The Legend of Osterwasser

This custom takes place in Pomerania, but it’s also a custom with the Sorbs in the Spreewald.

On Easter morning before dawn, a young, unmarried girl walked to the nearest clear stream and gathered water in a jug.  The way there and home again had to be paced silently. That wasn’t easy, for young boys and envious women attempted to hinder them with that, to startle them and to tempt them into idle conversation. If the girls spoke, the water would be ruined, and they would have to start over.

Easter water was said to bestow beauty and virtue on the girl who could complete the task. But perhaps more important for some young ladies,  if a girl sprinkled her lover with the water, they would marry soon.

Osterwasser must be collected  before the sun touched it!  Symbolically, water means life and fertility, but this water is extra special.

Liebig German easter customs Collecting Osterwasser

How else was Osterwasser Used?

In earlier times, it was customary to collect and put away Easter water for use against skin and eye ailments. One had to scoop the water from a pure, flowing brook in the earliest Easter Sunday hours before sunrise, and you shouldn’t meet or speak to anyone. Whoever washed himself on Easter Day with this water remained protected from skin and eye ailments.

Easter Water could also treat gout (when sprinkled on a piece of blue paper that is then placed on the breast) and fevers. Farmers would give their animals Osterwasser so they would stay healthy.

Osterwasser in the Baptismal Font

The Catholic Church used Osterwasser, water blessed on Easter Saturday in the Baptismal Font and Holy Water Vessels over the year.

Traditionally, baptisms were held only twice a year in the Catholic Church, on the evenings before Easter and Pentecost (Pfingsten). The blessed water in the Baptismal Font was called Osterwasser (Easter Water). (There are no references to how the priests collected the water.)

Babies were baptized in “Osterwasser,” and the Easter Candle, also known as the Paschal Candle, was dipped in the water for blessing.

Osterwasser could be taken home by churchgoers and sprinkled on doorways to bless the home and its inhabitants. The blessed water was also sprinkled on fruit trees and fields in May to encourage good harvest.

And if you wash your face with running water from a fountain on Easter Saturday morning while the church bells were ringing during the blessing of the Osterwasser, your freckles would disappear!

Is there special magic to Osterwasser?

The magic may lie in the cleanliness of the water. Collecting water early from the stream BEFORE other people and animals stirred up the water meant it was clean. But a belief in magic may be a good thing. So, if you unmarried women are looking for some help in the romance department, head down to the nearest stream on Easter Sunday and collect some water.

And believe in the magic!

Today, the legend has taken on a new meaning. On Easter morning, it is customary to drink Schnapps with friends, family, and neighbors and call it Osterwasser.

Thanks again to Paul Von Stache for finding this legend for us!

Further information was found on Heilige Quelle
A website about Sources of Water in Religion. Who references Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens Bd. 6, Berlin 1927-1942.