Let's be loud

#263

My Dear Friend of Democracy,

Church bells have many functions. They announce death, they warn of danger, they bring people together to pray, or they ring in remembrance. They ring when war starts, when war ends.

Bells can also symbolise freedom and democracy; for example, here and here (only in German).

I heard a special bell yesterday.

The church bell “Gloriosa” (The Glorious One).

Gloriosa is the largest free-swinging medieval bell in the world. It rings in the High Cathedral of St. Mary in Erfurt, Germany.

The bell weighs 11.45 tons and is 2.62 meters high, has a diameter of 2.56 meters and was cast in July 1497. When the bell is struck, the note "E" is heard. The voluminous sound can be heard around 20 kilometres away in suitable weather conditions.

The sound is rarely heard. To protect it from decay the bell rings around ten times a year. For example, on New Year's Day, on Easter, at Christmas.

Rarely, it also happens outside of the schedule. For example, when it commemorates the victory of democracy. This was the case on October 3, 2010, on the 20th anniversary of German reunification.

Sometimes, church bells warn of the loss of democracy.

In 2013, in the German town of Schweinfurt. The then Catholic dean there, Rainer Fries, had the bells of the Holy Spirit Church rung for a quarter of an hour during a nearby demonstration by the right-wing extremist party NPD. This earned him a complaint for disrupting an authorised demonstration. The response in Schweinfurt was massive; over 3,000 solidarity signatures were collected. The proceedings were later dropped.

✊ Let us be loud against the enemies of democracy. Let us draw attention. Attention is a prerequisite for awareness. Awareness is a prerequisite for change. So that more people get involved in preserving democracy. At least, no one should be able to say that they did not hear the ringing.

See you in Democracy,

Johannes