Schwand, Switzerland
Copy of Black Madonna of Einsiedeln
In the Talkapelle (valley chapel) of Schwand, a hamlet 4 km up the mountain from 6390 Engelberg. It lies less than 1 ½ hours by car and about 40-50 km as the crow flies from Luthern Bad, that “Lourdes of Switzerland” or “Einsiedeln of the simple folk”.
I list this seemingly insignificant Black Madonna in this index, because like her sisters in Einsiedeln, Sonogno, and Stansstad, she withstood the plans of those who would whitewash or ban Black Madonnas.
During renovations of her chapel, this formerly white Madonna was taken down to Engelberg, where she too was renovated. To everyone’s surprise it turned out that she was actually a Black Madonna that had been whitened. So, she was restored to her Black beauty and carried in solemn procession back up the mountain.
Agnes, the sacristan in 2002, speaks with a very natural, millennia old kind of devotion of her and explains that she calls for the Black Madonna’s protection by ringing the church bells: “I believe she helps everywhere, and it's good to ring the church bells in a storm, especially when it hails.” On days when hail may harm the harvest or animals, she goes very early to ring the bells, so that the other peasants can’t blame her for not ringing early enough to avoid the hail. She is proud to report that no hail has fallen in several years.
Sources:
* 2002 documentary film by Margrit R. Schmid “Schwarz bin ich und schoen: die Verehrung der schwarzen Madonna in der Schweiz” aired by the Swiss public broadcasting Company SRF
* buergergemeinde-engelberg.ch/kapelle-schwand/