The cave of the Delvau family

A hundred years ago, tradition says, that grotto really did serve for several years as the dwelling of a family of counts driven out of France, by the name of Delvau.

That family led a very pious and virtuous life there. They supported the villagers and the whole neighbourhood with advice and help, and above all gave generously to the needy.

But all at once their source had dried up and they themselves had become poor, indeed very poor. Remarkably, they refused to accept any kind of support. They lived sparely on tree roots and field herbs, as nature offered them.

That life was not to last long. On one and the same day both were called over into a better hereafter, and the spot is still pointed out under two tall beeches where the noble, pious couple found their last resting place.

Under the names Felsfrachen and Felsmannchen they hold a procession every year in that rock grotto on the night from Saturday to Whit Sunday, then to vanish again towards the midnight hour amid rushing din and noise.

And every year on Whit Sunday after vespers the young people of Lintgen go out, in the company of their parents, to the spot decorated festively the day before. There the Peischtbroudchen are eaten amid jokes and laughter, but the count’s family is remembered too.

There is always one or another among the celebrants who heard the noise and the din in the past night and saw the Felsfrachen and the Felsmannchen vanish over the treetops. This peculiar festival closes with a devout prayer for the family of counts.