The big one from 1823

Die Grosse von 1823 Karnevalsgesellschaft e. V. Cologne (The Great from 1823)
purpose	Maintenance and preservation of the customs " Cologne Carnival "
Chair:	Joachim E. Zöller (President and 1st Chairman)
Establishment date:	1823
Seat :	Belgian quarter
Website:	www.dgv-1823.de

Die Grosse von 1823 Karnevalsgesellschaft e. V. Cologne is the first carnival society in Cologne . Since countless societies have emerged from this society, it is also referred to in Cologne as the “mother of all carnival societies”.

history

founding

The poor harvest yields in 1816 and the difficult economic situation after the Wars of Liberation also had an impact on the Cologne Carnival . Because of the high costs, less money was invested in the equipment and creativity of the costumes. A first meeting was therefore held in November 1822 to counteract this. The intention of the founding fathers of what was then (renamed in 1969) "Great Carnevals Society" was

"To give the Carneval a more noble form, more appropriate to the current circumstances, to raise it spiritually from its submergence, to shape it poetically, as it were".

A large mask procession was to be organized for Mardi Gras Monday 1823, on the occasion of which the Great Carnival Society was founded. The first meeting took place in November 1822 in the wine tavern at St. Ursula, probably in today's Brauhaus Schreckenskammer , probably on the initiative of members of the Cologne Olympic Society, Ferdinand Franz Wallraf , Matthias Joseph de Noël and their circle of friends, as well as members of the literary circle who supported the Provided ideas for the festival design. These included u. a. Ernst Weyden , Christian Samuel Schier , Jean-Baptiste Rousseau , Wilhelm Smets , Johann Baptist Farina and Emanuel Ciolina Zanoli . Mardi Gras was probably chosen because it was the quietest of the three carnival days to date and to avoid suspicion that the many small parades of the smaller mask companies were displaced. After just 12 weeks of preparation, the first Cologne Rose Monday procession took place on February 10, 1823 .

From the following year, the members of the Great Carnival Society met annually around the New Year for a general assembly, the so-called "Great Council", in order to elect a so-called "Festordnendes Comitée" from their ranks (the actual "Board Meeting" and later called the "Small Council") , which should take over the organization of the following carnival festival. Heinrich von Wittgenstein was elected as the first president and spokesman . The membership fee of three thalers ensured a high degree of exclusivity for the company, because not even five percent of Cologne's citizens had an annual income of 400 thalers or more.

From 1824 onwards, a large masked ball was held annually in the Gürzenich on Shrove Monday , the income from which was used to cover the expenses for the carnival days. The surplus was donated to charity. As a thank you, the city administration gave the company the large hall of the Gürzenich free of charge for the masked ball on Rose Monday.

1823 to 1914

Before 1848, carnival societies were usually only allowed to constitute themselves for the carnival time due to official regulations and had to dissolve on Ash Wednesday of each year. The first KG in Cologne enjoyed such preferential treatment by the authorities until at least 1840 that it apparently did not have to apply for police approval as an association. Since numerous personalities from the city administration and economy were members of the Cologne KG, no police examination and express approval were required. The number of members of the association rose rapidly: The Cologne KG had 109 members in 1824, 302 in 1827 and over 500 in 1829. After the city of Cologne set up a register of associations, it was entered in 1844 as the first carnival society.

In the beginning, the carnival societies were mostly male domains. Women were only allowed to attend special women's committees or special festive occasions such as masked balls. The first women's committees existed in Cologne as early as the 1830s; From the 1880s onwards, carnival societies were established in which women could also become members.

After 1871, uniformed carnival guards and corps societies became increasingly popular. The Rote Funken were a group within the Große KG for almost fifty years until they founded their own carnival club in 1869.

In the years 1858 to 1864, the Große KG had a total of four different names, until in 1865 it was renamed "Große Karnevalsgesellschaft" again. In 1889, the Arranging Committee , the previous Small Council , was entered in the register of associations, with the President continuing to be the President of the Arranging Committee until 1908. Shortly before the First World War, the Große KG was one of the largest carnival societies in Cologne with over a thousand members.

In 1882 the association split up because President August Wilcke resigned from his office after internal disputes and founded his own company, the Cologne Carnival Society, with his supporters . Fritz Hönig was elected the new president of the Große KG. Now two large carnival clubs claimed the leading position in the carnival, which led to difficulties in the design of the festivities and the organization of the events and resulted in two large masked parades going through Cologne in 1883 - similar to 1844 and 1845.

In 1888, Mayor Karl Ferdinand Thewalt and Fritz Hönig mediated between the two members of the association's board of directors, and they finally agreed at the end of January 1888 to jointly form a “mask train committee” chaired by Hönig. For the first time in 1888, the large KG, but a festival committee (today: Cologne Carnival Festival Committee ) of the two associations was in charge of the mask procession. The festival committee became a permanent institution in the following years, with the two large carnival societies jointly determining the design of the festival. In 1908, the two large carnival societies agreed on an annual change in the presidium of the Cologne Festival Committee.

1914 to 1948

From 1915 to 1926 there was no Rose Monday procession due to the First World War and the occupation of the Rhineland . Events and gatherings as well as meetings of all kinds, the wearing of costumes, and later also the singing and playing of carnival songs were prohibited. The ten-year ban was finally lifted through rulings by the Higher Regional Court , which allowed meetings, mask and costume parties to take place again officially. Until 1928 the street carnival - with the exception of a “cap ride” on Rose Monday 1927 - was still prohibited, but the halls filled up quickly.

During the Great Depression there was no Rose Monday procession in 1931 and 1932. In 1934, Grosse KG celebrated its 111th anniversary largely unaffected by the political upheavals after the National Socialists came to power . In the Cologne fools revolt of 1935, the organized Cologne carnival successfully opposed the harmonization of carnival celebrations and defended the organizational form of the traditional Cologne carnival.

From 1940 to 1948 there was no carnival procession, all carnival events were canceled. The only exceptions were secret events behind closed doors.

1948 until today

The new float (2018)

In 1949 there was another Rose Monday procession as an extended canopy tour under the motto "Mer sin widder do un dun wat mer künne". The association also took part in clearing away the rubble caused by the destruction of the Second World War  on the Gürzenich in 1949 together with the other carnival societies and students.

A great change took place in the post-war years: professional carnivalists replaced the lay people on the stages, who until now had shaped the atmosphere and mood in the meetings with their hand-made speeches from society for society. At the same time, the demands of viewers who received entertainment from radio and television directly into the living room increased.

In 1961 Grosse KG provided the prince with Peter Schumacher, the farmer with Paul Olpp and the maiden of the Cologne triumvirate with Josef Schneider . In 1969 the Grosse Karnevals-Gesellschaft renamed itself to Die Grosse von 1823 . Since 1971 the senators of the greats wore the neck medal, which was based on the oldest known society badge of the greats from 1838. At the start of the anniversary session, the big one in 1972, in its 149th year, again presented a triumvirate with Bernd Beckers as Prince Bernd I, Adam de Haas as the farmer Adam and Josef Kreimer as the virgin Josi.

In 2013, Die Grosse von 1823 first implemented the idea of ​​a family-friendly session opening in Cologne on the right bank of the Rhine: The Grosse Kölsche Countdown . Hedwig Neven DuMont was the patron of this charity event . The proceeds from the event went to the “we help” campaign, which the great from 1823 actively supported in 2004 for the first time. In the following years the event "Kölscher Countdown" was held on 11.11. further established. In 2018, Die Grosse von 1823 took part in the Carnival Monday procession in their own new float.

Society and events

The society is made up of several communities to form the "large family". This consists of the Die Grosse von 1823 Karnevalsgesellschaft e. V. Cologne , the society's dance group, the dance corps “Fidele Sandhasen e. V. "as well as the music corps" Schwarz-Rot Köln e. V. ". The society is supported by the Friends and Sponsors Association FFK e. V. as well as through the "Grosse Centuria" founded in 2019, a community to promote Cologne's carnival culture.

In addition to the family-friendly large and benefit event “Der Grosse Kölsche Countdown” on 11.11. In the Tanzbrunnen with over 11,111 jolly visitors and all the top acts of the Cologne Carnival, the Famillich u. a. “#Ufftata The Big Countdown Party” in the theater in Tanzbrunnen for the younger crowd.

With its classic meeting formats (large girls' meeting, large costume meeting, large Sunday meeting), which have always taken place in Cologne's Gürzenich , the company maintains the Cologne meeting carnival with a mixture of modern and traditional bands, speakers and dance groups. The company thus supports the classic elements of the humorous speeches and dance groups in Cologne Carnival.

The big Sunday meeting on the evening of Carnival Sunday is traditionally the last carnival meeting of all societies in Cologne. Another old tradition is when at this last session of the session the president of the grand prince puts the “fifth feather” on the prince's cap, with which the prince takes part in the Rose Monday procession the next day. With this symbolic act, on behalf of all Cologne carnival societies, the prince and his team are thanked for their session and their cheerfulness.

Together with the Carnival Association Grosse Kölner Karnevalsgesellschaft 1882 , the Grosse organized the nostalgia meeting in the Flora .

The golden book

The golden book (guest book) of "The Great from 1823"

The “Golden Book” (guest book) is the figurehead of the carnival society. Time and again it is given to the art-historically interested experts for research purposes. Not only the “Golden Book”, but also other valuable utensils, such as B. the presidential scepter, the anniversary cup, the golden cup from the “safe” of the “big ones” soon became known beyond Cologne. The "Song and Yearbook" from 1905 reports about it:

“ From the council treasure of the Great Carnival Society, various showpieces from the studio of the court goldsmith Gabriel Hermeling had made the long journey across the ocean to represent Cologne goldsmithing at the World Exhibition in St. Louis. The golden book with the golden inkwell and the golden eraser, the presidential scepter, the jubilee cup of the city of Cologne and the golden goblet of the president carried the fame of our wonderful "greats" into the world at the same time. And awarded the “Grand prix”, they returned to the company shortly before the end of the season. "

Literature and Sources

• Christina Frohn: A great endeavor is praiseworthy if it is short and meaningful, dissertation 1999
• Peter Fuchs: Chronicle of the History of the City of Cologne , Volumes 1 and 2, Greven Cologne 1993
• Michael Euler-Schmidt: Cologne mask trains 1823-1914 , Werner Schäfke Cologne 1991
• Wilhelm Walter: Festschrift from 1873, Carneval in Cologne from the oldest times up to the year 1873 , Cologne
• Wilhelm Walter: The reawakening of the Cologne Carnival in 1823 , Carnival newspaper Fasching 1 (1898)
• Christian Samuel Schier, Songs for the Carneval in Cologne , Cologne 1823
• Almanach Cologne 1826: Great Cologne Mask Festival of 1826. III. Vintage of the Carnival Almanac , Cologne 1826
• Joseph Klersch: The Cologne Carnival from its beginnings to the present day , writings of the Bund Deutscher Karneval 1, Cologne 1961
• Georg Neuhaus: Overview of the constitutional history of the city of Cologne since Roman times and of its administration in the 20th century , Cologne 1914
• Mask Festival Cologne 1824: The great Cologne mask festival of 1824. Dedicated in love and awe to the honored participants and carriers of the great mask procession of 1824 by the publisher Holofernes Titelblatt, court bookseller of the Cologne hero Carnival, Cologne 1824
• Wilhelm Schneider-Clauss: Our big one as it was and was. A historical sketch of the Great Carnival Society in Cologne , Cologne 1894
• Wolfgang Hardtwig, structural features and development tendencies of associations in Germany 1789 - 1848 in: Associations and civil society in Germany, ed. v. Otto Dann, Munich 1984
• Helmut Signon: The Red Sparks of Cologne , Cologne 1972
• Klaus Zöller: Große Kölner 1882–1982 , Cologne 1982
• Peter Fuchs, Wolfgang Oelsner, Max-Leo Schwering, Hansherbert Wirtz, Klaus Zöller: Cologne Carnival. Its customs, its actors, its history. 175 years of the festival committee of the Cologne Carnival of 1823 eV , Cologne 1997
• Cologne Carnival 1844: The Cologne Carnival 1844. A memorial book for its friends , Cologne 1844
• Song and yearbook 1905: Grosse Karnevals-Gesellschaft Köln, ed. Jean Jörrissen, Cologne 1905

Web links

Commons : Die Grosse von 1823  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fuchs 1820, p. 11 f .; Frohn, p. 45
2. ↑ Schier, p. 4; Walter, p. 14
3. ↑ Klersch 1961, p. 83
4. ↑ Walter 1898, No. 2 Col. 31
5. ↑ Klersch 1961, p. 91
6. ↑ Neuhaus 1914, pp. 12–15
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Fuchs 1824, p. 52
8. ↑ Euler-Schmidt 1991, p. 35
9. ^ Almanac 1826
10. ↑ Hardtwig 1984, p. 12
11. ^ GStA PK, I. HA. Rep. 77, Tit. 499, No. 6, Vol. 2, Bl. 146 ff.
12. ↑ Klersch 1961, p. 142
13. ↑ Signon 1972, p. 19
14. ↑ Schneider-Clauss 1894, p. 59
15. ↑ Zöller 1982, p. 15
16. ↑ Fuchs / Schwering / Zöller, p. 256
17. ↑ Song and yearbook 1905