“Who is God like you, who forgives sin and pardons the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?” his grandmother whispered—“That means God forgives bad things,” his mother whispered back, “bad things you did during the year.”—“He does not seize his anger forever, for he delights in kindness,” his grandmother whispered—“God won’t stay mad at you,” his mother whispered. “You will again be merciful upon us and subdue our sins, and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea,” his grandmother whispered—“God will take the bad things you did and forget about them, and throw them in the water,” his mother said. There was a bit more after that, but Wilhelm could barely listen to it. Instead he stared at the children around him, intrigued, unable to believe that they spent every New Year throwing bits of stale bread in a river.

“. . . for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God, as the waters cover the sea,” his grandmother whispered—“Like the waters cover the sea,” his mother finished. The riverbank was silent for a moment. “Now try to think of what you did wrong during the year, and then throw the bread in the river,” his grandmother told him.

Wilhelm tried to think of what he had done wrong that year, but he couldn’t think of anything. Soon people started throwing the bread in the water. From his perch on the river’s edge, bread seemed to be raining from the heavens, flying into the river and racing downstream. Certain that he had done something bad during the past year, or even many bad things, and simply couldn’t remember what, Wilhelm drew back his hand in a mighty pitch and cast the bread into the river with thrilling abandon, hoping that the bread would remember his bad deeds better than he did and drown itself in guilt in the river. As he followed his piece of bread with his eyes, he watched as it blended with all the other pieces of bread until he couldn’t tell which one was his anymore. Some pieces sank below the depths; others were snatched up by birds; the rest floated downstream, far away, and, Wilhelm imagined to himself, out to sea.