National Day celebrations this year are feeling the sting of the ongoing coronavirus crisis. The traditional ceremony at the Kanounenhiwwel in Luxembourg City was for instance an exceptionally short one with only a very limited number of people attending. The military parade and the Te Deum service meanwhile had to be cancelled due to the precautionary coronavirus restrictions.
The Te Deum service goes back about 550 years. Much to the disappointment of church-goers, the pandemic has triggered the cancellation of the solemn ceremony at Luxembourg's cathedral.
The dean of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Georges Hellinghausen, told RTL that religious traditions are suffering in Luxembourg due to the pandemic. Church choirs can "neither rehearse, nor sing and perform because the risk of the circulation of [virus-laden] droplets and potential Covid-19 infections is too high," Hellinhausen explained. He added that many elderly members of the choir qualify as vulnerable individuals.
There are no Te Deum services in Luxembourg this year. The only exception: a drive-in Te Deum at Petange's Open Air cinema.
It is not the first time in the history of Luxembourg that the Te Deum is cancelled due to external forces. The traditional hymn was for instance replaced with the Marseillaise during the French Revolution in 1800. Luxembourg had been annexed into France as part of the Départment des Forêts during that time.
Luxembourg's churches were also banned from playing the Te Deum hymn during WWII when the German occupiers outlawed all patriotic events.
