In the war's wake came further sickness. The grimmest Plague years, 1606 and 1636, are today still remembered by two "Bildstöcke" (sing. "Bildstock" – a cross-shaped or columnar pillar functioning as a wayside shrine), called "Peststeine" (“Plague stones”), on the main road. In the time of greatest hardship, the population vowed to hold a festival and repentance day “for everlasting time” if the sickness came to an end. On this so-called "Hellfeiertag" (roughly “Light Holiday” – despite the similarity in pronunciation, there is no connection with “hellfire”), the Friday before Michaelmas, it was forbidden to light a fire in any hearth, and both people and livestock observed a strict fast and did no work. The vow was strictly kept right up until the First World War.