Carnival session
Carnival sessions are events that take place during Carnival, Mardi Gras and Mardi Gras . The guests, who mostly appear in costumes, are offered a colorful program of various carnival performances: speeches, songs to sing along to, music and dance interludes.
origin
In 1823 the “Festordnende Komitee” was founded in Cologne to give the previously disordered Carnival in Cologne a new direction and new content. The main purpose when it was founded was that the “once so famous Cologne Carneval ... should be renewed and celebrated with a general masked procession”. The organization of this carnival procession was up to the “small or funny council”; all paying members of the committee formed the "Grand Council", which in the following years met regularly for "general assemblies", which were called "committee meetings" from 1833 onwards. These meetings, the main purpose of which was to prepare the carnival procession, began on New Year's Day or Epiphany and took place every Sunday from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. until Shrovetide Sunday. There was music, drinks, serious and humorous speeches on the "fool's chair", a president surrounded by councilors, medals and, from 1827, the custom of wearing the same caps: "Same brothers, same caps!" In addition, large balls developed.
organizer
Carnival meetings are usually organized by carnival associations or a festival committee or festival committee - but also by companies, associations and parishes.
Up until a few years ago, it was the goal of the large Cologne carnival clubs in particular to offer as many forms of carnival meetings as possible for as many target groups as possible:
- Child session
- Senior meeting
- People's meeting / Milljöhsitzung
- Ladies meeting / girls meeting
- Gentlemen's meeting
- Costume session
- Ceremonial meeting / grand ceremonial meeting
This can no longer be offered, not least due to the sharp rise in admission prices as a result of higher costs for rents, permits, editions and artists and thus falling audience numbers. Many societies therefore only offer one or two sessions and sometimes only in cooperation with other societies.
Scope of meetings
The scope of the carnival sessions varies depending on the organizer , there are small sessions with up to a few hundred guests, but also sessions with thousands of costumed guests, especially in the carnival strongholds. An average of 10,000 spectators appear at the " Laughing Cologne Arena ", ie up to 120,000 spectators per session.
Contributors and roles
Session President
The meeting president is usually, but not necessarily, a member of the 911 Council. Its tasks include program planning and implementation. In Cologne Carnival it is common for the program planning to be done by the so-called literary man. The chairman of the meeting is in the spotlight and announces the individual numbers like a conférencier .
Penalty advice
Often the so-called Elferrat sits on a podium at the back of the stage with the chairman or mayor in his midst. They chair the meeting together.
Madness
The highlight of many carnival sessions is the march in of the local carnival prince , the carnival prince couple or the triumvirate .
ballet
Dances and choreographies are performed by guard dance groups , male / housewife ballet , spark or dance marieches and drum corps .
Büttenspeaker
Pure verbal contributions are referred to as hand-made speeches . Here humor and satirical criticism of celebrities and political actors at all levels are in the foreground, in the tradition of the (court) fool .
"Foolish Duo"
Here, two protagonists talk or “rake” and play the punch lines to one another. Classics of this genre were the Colonia Duett and Fraa Babbisch and Fraa Struwwelisch . Even fictional couples with local color as Tünnes and peeling are repeatedly brought to the stage.
Singers and choirs
The spectrum ranges from the vocal soloist to the banter to the large choir of high musical quality ( Mainz court singer ). Mood, drinking and local patriotic songs are performed, as well as satirical pieces by the bailiff singers.
Show groups
Show groups combine the aforementioned forms of contribution in their performances with different weightings, or entertain the audience with acrobatic and other spectacular performances.
Accompanying music
The acoustic accompaniment takes on a tape or a chapel . She intones a march when the actors appear (e.g. the Narrhallamarsch in Mainz ), accompanies the dance and song numbers and acknowledges the punch lines in hand-made speeches and skits with a flourish .
In Franconia , the Franconian Carnival March (Long live our Fasenacht) is part of it.
For small events, the music can also be contributed by a one-man orchestra , an organ player or from sound carriers .
Visiting clubs
As a rule, representatives of other associations also take part in a carnival session. If necessary, they also supplement the event with their 911 council and selected actors.
Medal award
After their performance, the active members often receive a carnival medal . Sometimes deserved carnivalists are honored in a separate program item.
Different types of carnival sessions
Introductory evening
This type of session often takes place immediately before the start of Mardi Gras and serves to present the repertoire and as a test run for the talents of a club for the next session . These presentations are also used to initiate guest appearances at other companies.
Prince proclamation
At one of the first carnival sessions of the session , the prince , the prince couple or the triumvirate are raised and proclaimed in their office . Here they receive their insignia , depending on the region z. B. Scepter , feathers and medals with the prince, scepter with the princess, flail with the farmer, mirror with the maiden.
The proclamation of princes was introduced into carnival by the Nazis in the Third Reich and was retained in its form after the Second World War .
Ceremonial meeting
The ceremonial meeting is a public "conference" of the Elferrat in the form of a review . In some places the motto of the session is proclaimed in the ceremonial session and is often also their topic. Local , regional and global events of the past year and celebrities are satirized and exaggerated in verbal and vocal contributions . The guard dance should not be missing in any ceremonial meeting.
In contrast to other carnival events , the majority of the audience appears in evening attire, unless the organizer requests costumes. Today appearing in evening wear has become rarer, most of the sessions are held in colorful costumes and a relaxed atmosphere.
Well-known television sessions
- Carnival in Franconia ( Bayerischer Rundfunk )
- Mainz Carnival
- Aachen Carnival
-
Cologne Carnival
- Kölle Alaaf ( discontinued by RTL in 2006 )
- Carnival in Cologne (ARD television session)
- Villach Carnival
- Swabia white-blue (Bavarian Broadcasting)
- The big TV Total ceremony (ProSieben)
Other carnival sessions
- Women's meetings, girls 'meetings or even ladies' meetings: These usually take place outside of the Rhineland on Weiberfastnacht. Only women are allowed in the Rhineland.
- Gentlemen's meetings in which only men take part: In contrast to the other meetings, no costumes are worn at gentlemen's meetings; Evening wear is recommended, but not mandatory. In the Rhineland, gentlemen's meetings were mostly hearty meetings without dress codes, the program ranged as far as striptease interludes and profanity. In recent years, however, more emphasis has been placed on less "slipperiness".
- Senior Sessions: special carnival sessions for the elderly
- Children's sessions or children's costume parties: Sessions in which a child-friendly program is presented for the children and with the children, often with games and small competitions.
- Costume sessions : sessions with mandatory costume
- External meetings: An outdated, but still used term from the Cologne Carnival for meetings without the obligation to dress and, both linguistically and in terms of content, largely understandable for non-Cologne residents. Nevertheless there were always mostly locals in the hall.
- Miljöhsitzungen: mostly family-friendly sessions with not too high admission and drink prices and no wine obligation
- Foolish wine or beer tasting: Wine or beer is tasted in Franconia , with small skits and hand-made speeches performed between the individual samples.
- Drying session : a session in Koblenz where the drinks and gfs. Food does not have to be obtained from the organizer, but can be brought along, arose immediately after the Second World War in the carnival of the Kolping Family , when self-sufficiency was inevitable at the carnival.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Fuchs, Max Leo Schwering: Cologne Carnival. On the cultural history of Carnival. Greven Verlag, Cologne 1972, ISBN 3-7743-0089-5 , pp. 54-75; Manfred Becker-Huberti : Celebrations, festivals, seasons. Living customs all year round. Herder-Verlag, Freiburg-Basel-Wien 2001, ISBN 3-451-27702-6 , p. 203.
- ↑ Express-Forum, Wutrede gegen den Kommerz-Karneval, 2009, accessed on November 6, 2013 ( archived copy ( memento of the original from May 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check Original and archive link according to instructions and then remove this note. )
- ↑ rp-online.de The cost of the stars in the carnival. February 15, 2009, accessed on November 6, 2013 ( [1] )
- ^ The brown shadows of the Carnival ( Memento from February 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). Westdeutscher Rundfunk Cologne, February 8, 2010.
- ↑ Koelsche-Fastelovend-Archiv 1. Miljöhsitzung KG Kölsche Grielächer February 13, 2011, accessed on November 9, 2013 ( [2] )
- ↑ Koblenzer Trockensitzung ( Homepage , kk-funken-rot-weiss.de on the history of the drying session ( Memento of the original from February 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ).
