Aachen Carnival
The tradition of uniform-wearing carnival societies comes from Aachen .
history
Aachen and the entire Rhineland were under French occupation from 1794 to 1814 . In 1802 Aachen became a French city and administrative center as the administrative seat of the Département de la Roer . The occupation of the Rhineland was largely organized from Aachen. The French were not militarily strong enough to be permanently present in everyday life in Aachen and the surrounding area. The French therefore preferred to retreat to their barracks and organize their occupation with strong patrols . In 1798 the local rifle clubs were therefore banned for safety reasons . This ban lasted until 1806.
The outraged citizens, typical Rhinelander , were thus robbed of an essential source of their social and sometimes also political life. Another significant burden for the population was the French conscription system, i. H. the military obligation of all male residents between the ages of 18 and 40. The materially better off were able to free themselves from military duty by providing a substitute.
While the administrative reforms of the French met with considerable approval, everything military was vehemently rejected. The Aacheners showed their dislike by marching up and down in front of the French barracks in rag costumes based on French uniforms. As they did so, they sang black songs and mocked the military salute by deliberately performing it incorrectly. Corresponding anecdotes from the French barracks in Aachen's Elsassstrasse are known. These barracks stood roughly where the Kennedypark is today .
Foundation of the first carnival club
Although the tradition of wearing a fake uniform comes from Aachen and such groups were first seen in Aachen, the first real carnival club with this tradition was founded in Cologne. After the end of the occupation, further associations were founded in Aachen, Cologne and other places, which included wearing uniform costumes, singing blacksmiths and greeting fools during the carnival season in their statutes. Carnival societies wearing uniforms are thus originally a Rhenish affair and beyond that an expression of concrete anti-militarism .
The fool's greeting (the right flat hand is carelessly placed on the left forehead) has survived to this day and still stands for a mockery of state and military constraints. Since uniform carnival societies have also established themselves in other parts of the country and, outside of the street carnival, stately uniforms, tight organization, stiff movements and extremely serious and elitist demeanor have blurred the original intention, the claim of anti-militarism is certainly no longer a main motive of the Aachen carnival.
Alternative carnival
Other forms of carnival are also cultivated in Aachen.
The 1991 organized by 2013 is known Strunxsitzung (also Strunx session ). This form of carnival, which sees itself as an “alternative”, was initially viewed with suspicion by the established carnival associations. The name comes from the word Stronks des Öcher Platts , which means something like “Kot”, “Dung” or (vulgarly) “Shit”. As early as 1992 Strunx achieved its first " scandal " with the proclamation of the Strunx prince "Gay Jonathan" in front of a public toilet in the Aachen city hall .
See also
Web links
- Aachen Carnival Committee
- Historical images from the abuta eV archive of carnival parades in Aachen
- origin
Individual evidence
- ^ History of the St. Laurentius Aachen-Laurensberg Schützenbruderschaft , accessed June 21, 2020
- ↑ Bernd Müllender: Alternative carnival at the end: Greens celebrate with the enemy. In: taz.de . February 3, 2013, accessed December 28, 2016 .