The Virgin Mary as advocate for a girl with epilepsy

The naive picture on the votive tablet is painted onto wood and is only 26 x 31 cm.

It portrays a girl with the falling sickness who has apparently had a fit while going to fetch water. She is lying stiffly on the floor with her arms stretched out like a doll which has been dropped onto the floor; froth is dripping out of her mouth.

The woman who has been called to help is the Virgin Mary, who carries the baby Jesus in her arms.

The circle of clouds in votive tablets symbolises the division of heaven and earth. It is usually peopled by saints, who, as advocates, form a link between the suffering people on earth and the helping, healing God in heaven.

The Virgin Mary as advocate for a girl with epilepsy

As in many pictures portraying the falling sickness, the clothes of the sick person are dominated by the colours red and black:

red is regarded to be the colour which wards off demons; black stands for sin and punishment.

(In the Christian Middle Ages, but also in other culture groups, the "falling sickness" was believed to be a divine punishment for the person with epilepsy or - in the case of epileptic children - their parents, who had sinned in some form [usually sexually].)