Tuesday, October 29, 2013

The one with Mariken van Nieumeghen

As you might know, my name is Marieken, and I live in a Dutch city named Nijmegen. There was another Mariken living in the same city, in a medieval miracle play from the 16th century.


In the story, Mariken lives near Nijmegen and is send to get groceries at the market in Nijmegen. She is supposed to spend the night at her aunt, but the two get into a fight. She goes back home praying desperately, not caring if she gets help from God or the Devil. The Devil hears her and takes her to the cities Den Bosch and Antwerpen, where they live in sin for seven years. After that, she returns to Nijmegen, and regrets the things she has done. She seeks forgiveness, which is finally granted to her by the pope. The moral of the story: no mather what you've done, it's always possible to get forgiveness.

Mariken is quite famous over here, there's a statue (which I can almost see from my home). There are a street, a sportsclub, the biggest ladies run of the Netherlands, and a train named after her. Not quite sure if I should be happy to share a name with this lady though!




31 comments:

  1. That's fascinating about this Mariken! I guess the most difficult part is to forgive oneself.
    Love the statue in front of those charming old houses!

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  2. What a great story and a really cool statue. So cool that you can almost see it from your house. I''m so jealous that you live by so many cool things!

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    1. I guess it's a cool place indeed. It's just too bad that most of the things that are actually pretty special get taken for granted.

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  3. I've never heard that story before, but I guess the moral of depravity and redemption is a common one among medieval tales. I love that statue, and the building in the background is beautiful! Also, I think your name sounds very pretty! :)

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    1. Thanks, and I would love to take a peek inside those houses!

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  4. Love this inspiring story behind your name! Also your picture of the stature lovely ...composition of slick metal form against the incredible detail background very appealing! Keen eyes of the true artist! Great job!

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    1. I like the statue too, there's one of the devil just around the corner. I need to post that one too on the blog some day.

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  5. That's a fabulous story, Marieken! I'm sure this is a well-known tale in your city...maybe even county, but I'd never heard it! I think you should have a post called "the cultural teachings of Marieken"...or something. So awesome :)

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    1. It is quite well known, some years ago there was a movie made based on the tale. I don't know about those cultural teachings, but I'd love to do more post like these.

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  6. I love your name! =0)
    What a great story. And it has a good moral to it!

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  7. Very cool to share her name so closely. In the end she was a good soul who made the right choices to gain forgiveness. In a way, we are all like this. We make mistakes, we do wrong deeds and we need to be forgiven.

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  8. Firstly I am in love with your name! :) Also what a fantastic story! I agree with Duni, forgiving oneself is the hardest to do.

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  9. Such lovely pictures! I found your post from etsy! Love the statue~

    http://joulesofjewels.blogspot.com

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  10. I adore your name . It's so wonderfully sweet to me and the story is great too. Happy Wednesday, lovely. xo

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  11. What a great story! I'm not familiar with that one, but I like the message. Nobody is perfect and all of us will need to be forgiven for something at least once. It's a nice reminder that a mistake doesn't have to be the end of the world.

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  12. Such an interesting story! I think it's cool that you share a name, even if her morals initially left something to be desired. :)

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  13. that's very interesting! it's nice to know that just because you share her name, you don't have to live her story. :0)
    Debbi
    -yankeeburrow

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  14. Oh my, what a cool and weird story all at the same time! Kind of neat that you share a name with her :)

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  15. You tell the story way better than the boring book we had to read in school ;)

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    1. I can't remember reading the book in school, guess I was busy doing other things ;-)

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  16. It's quite a common name, but spelled without the N at the end. And I was named after her. Mostly because my grandfather was very much interested in our cities' history.

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  17. I loved this story! I find little historical tidbits like this so interesting! I think your name is so pretty in print. Maybe this is a silly question, but I've often wondered how it's pronounced. Which syllable gets the emphasis? Or how many syllables are there? Like Marie-ken, or Mari-e-ken...? Does this question even make sense?? ;)

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    1. Your question does make sense :-)
      It's a bit like this: mah-REEh-kuhn (reeh - 'ee' as in see)

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    2. Very pretty! Haha, thanks! :)

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  18. I love the story and your name is pretty!! Also.. I mean.. wasn't Satan suppose to be the hottest angel around?? She had her fun then went home.. so many of us do that sometimes.

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