The night watchman

"Hark while I sing our village clock, the hour of twelve, good sirs, has struck.” Even though in modern times the profession of the night watchman is long since gone, his famous "Hour Song" is still to be heard during the Frundsberg Festival. As in medieval times, the watchman makes his rounds when darkness falls. Dressed in a long coat, armed with a halberd and equipped with lantern and horn, he announces what the hour has struck – both in literal and figurative meaning. For in a time when chronometry was still a very difficult and complex skill, the watchman was certainly a crucial source of knowing the right time.

Simultaneously, his function of telling the time serves as a warning for the vainness of all human efforts compared to God’s Will: "Unless the Lord to guard us deign, Man wakes and watches all in vain. Lord! Through thine all-prevailing might, do thou vouchsafe us a good night!" The guard might watch over the streets of the town centre protecting the sleeping inhabitants – especially from fire, but also from thieves, criminals and other riff-raff. The human soul, however, he is unable to save. For God’s plans are unfathomable for the human mind and the coming of Judgment Day not to be foreseen: "Twelve is of time the boundary – Man! Think upon eternity." The conclusion for the good Christian is more than obvious: Only a clear conscience makes a soft pillow.