Rottenburg fools guild
The Rottenburg fools' guild is a carnival club in the tradition of the Swabian-Alemannic carnival in Rottenburg am Neckar (Tübingen district). The first evidence of the fools' guild can be found in 1925 (oldest fool's guild in the Tübingen district ). The guild has been a member of the Association of Swabian-Alemannic Fools' Guilds (VSAN) since 1929 .
History of the Rottenburger Fasnet
According to D. Manz, a carnival tradition in Rottenburg can be traced back to the beginning of the 15th century, i.e. even before Countess Mechthild, who resided in the city from 1452 to 1482. In the stately annual accounts of 1412/13, for example, there is the note: “The citizens at Carnival when they had a fork.” But according to KO Müller, “having a fork” means: “Carnival skewers and dancing”. It can be assumed that Countess Mechthild ( Mechthild von der Pfalz ) and her court extended the customs and traditions found and made them more splendid. It is therefore correct to speak of a long carnival tradition in Rottenburg. As has recently become known, there is said to be a 15th century scare mask in a museum in Chicago. The documents about the Rottenburger Fasnet are missing for the 14th century, as the town hall was lost each time during the two city fires in 1644 and 1735 and a lot of documentary material was destroyed.
The first news about the Rottenburger Fasnet therefore only comes from the year 1410. File notes say, as D. Manz has proven: "The Pfiffer (town piper) got their annual salary paid 'on Vassnacht'." Old official and court minutes of Rottenburg from the The 16th, 17th and 18th centuries report repeatedly about tower fines and fines that were imposed for running white slugs.
Anno 1616 can be found in old hospital chronicles:
- "Prohibition of walking in slugs and white slugs."
"It should go Kainer in Tayfels-Klaid, before or after fasting in Butzenweiß, when tightening a pound of Hellers." Rottenburger Vogtsgerichts -ordnung
Such records and many protocols are still in old files in Innsbruck and Rottenburg, which bear witness to the old age of the Rottenburger Fasnet. Innsbruck because (the Oberamt) Rottenburg belonged to Upper Austria until 1805 .
In 1616 a white-robed fool annoyed the Rottenburg authority (presumably it was Ur-Ahland). In the 18th century there were many interim carnival bans. Towards the end of the century there were the first street carnivals. The Kaiserwirt was allowed on December 23, 1793 to hold a carnival ball in the upper hall of the town hall. From 1801 to 1805 there were various carnival balls. Around 1835 there were masked balls of the museum association. In the years 1838 to 1841 the masked balls were held in the "Klösterle". In 1844, 200 participants performed “The Battle of the Crows Winks Against the Goose Without” on the market square. A mask parade followed and a "Krähenwinkler Ball" took place in the "Waldhorn". In 1881 the first special train went to the Rottenburger Fasnet. The rush was so great that the tickets ran out and even cattle and open wagons had to be used to return to Tübingen. "Ahland" was first mentioned in 1899.
In 1903 the first carnival event was held in the newly built gymnasium and festival hall. In 1925, the first members of the Rottenburg fools' guild joined. The general assembly of the "Association of Swabian-Alemannic Fools Guilds" (VSAN) took place in Elzach in 1925 . (In 1931 the association was stationed in Lauffenburg , one year later in Hechingen .) In the same year, the "Rottenburger original mask" was mentioned for the first time, which was later renamed Ahland. On March 1, 1927, the first big parade in 13 years took place.
In 1929 the guild becomes a member of the "Association of Swabian-Alemannic Fools Guilds". The first general assembly of the "Rottenburger Narrenzunft" took place on January 9, 1930. In addition, the portrayal of Countess Mechthild was included as an integral part of the carnival. Two years later, the fools met in Villingen , Rottweil , Stockach with the "Rottenburger Original Mask". The number of members of the fool's guild was still 120 this year. A year later it already had 400 members. In 1932 and 1933 the carnival parade was banned. In the next five years there were great fools' parades. In 1939 the music director Karl Bengel composed the “Rottenburger Narrenmarsch”. Due to the Second World War , all carnival activities were suspended from 1940 to 1947. The first children's parade after World War II was held on February 6, 1948.
More than 10,000 visitors were counted on the Sunday parade on February 19, 1950. Two years later the fools meeting of the Swabian-Alemannic fools guilds took place in Rottenburg. A total of 30,000 visitors came to the move. On November 23, 1952, an application was made to register as the "Rottenburg Fools' Guild, Guild for Care of Old Traditions eV". At that time, the fool's guild comprised about 500 guild members. On January 27, 1953, the district court approved the application of November 23, 1952, the fools' guild becomes "eV" 50 registered Ahlande. In 1954 Eugen Schramm composed the text for the fool's march: “Fasnet hem-mr, narret sem-mr”. The musician Johannes Czemmel composed music for the Ahland dance in 1958. The world premiere of the Ahlandt dance took place in 1960. The meeting of fools in Rottenburg was held in 1966. 90,000 visitors took part in the parade on February 5, 1967.
In 1973 a "Ehgner Ahlands" (Ur-Pompele) was created. The planned fools meeting of 1974 is canceled due to the oil crisis . A year later, the first guild mass was held in the St. Moriz Church. On June 13, 1977, the fools guild bought the "Hiller" restaurant. Gradually it is converted into a guild house. The Pompele was accepted into the guild on April 21, 1979 as the second bell fool. In 1983 the Rottenburg fools' guild took part in the Carneval in Nice . Because of the Gulf War, the carnival was canceled in 1991. In 1996 the guild took part in the Carneval in Marseille . In 2002 a new group of the Rottenburg fools' guild "Der Fanfarenzug" was created. From January 24th to 26th, 2003 the Narrentreffen Fasnetslandschaft Neckar-Alb took place in Rottenburg.
Figures and groups of the fool's guild
The Ahland
The Ahland is the main character of the Fasnet in Rottenburg. This is a classic white jester with an artfully crafted linden wood mask, lambskin hood and up to six bells. The Ahland dance is an impressive show dance that is unique in the Swabian-Alemannic carnival. The Ahland mask was created around 1550/70 and was originally located on a larger building in Rottenburg, which was destroyed in the town fire of 1644.
The Rottenburger Ahland is a devil figure who was first seen in the Rottenburger Fasnet in 1929. A sandstone grimace served as a model for the larva, the age and origin of which are disputed. Initially, this fool's figure was called the “Rottenburger Original Mask”, and it was not until 1950 that the name “Ahland” gradually gained acceptance. In Rottenburg, the word Aland originally referred to a “masked person at Carnival, namely a masked child”, “Aland to go” stood for “to walk in disguise”, so it had no reference to a specific disguise, but served as a collective term for a masking itself .
Hermann Fischer speculated about the origin of the word in his Swabian dictionary: if “this very locally handed down word does not have a special origin” , Aland could be a “euphemistic distortion” of the Middle High German vâlant ('devil'). In Rottenburg's literature on local history, this casually expressed assumption by Fischer was later adopted as a fact without being examined. However, this derivation is impossible for reasons of linguistic history, since a consonant initial sound cannot simply be omitted.
The term Aland / t initially describes a species of carp fish, a spicy herb plant, as well as various European rivers and is also common as a family name. It is assumed that the surname is more recent and based on one of the other meanings. The river name Alant goes back to Indo-European al (a) ('source'), the Aland, which belongs to the white fish, in Middle High German alant <old high German alunt <Germanic * alunda, * alundaz <idg. * Al-, * alou- ('white, shiny '), the plant alant on germ. * alan (' to nourish '), Gothic al-an * (' to grow, nourish ') <idg. * al- (' to grow, nourish '). Alant can also mean 'alum' (potassium aluminum sulfate; a pickling agent in the tannery, paper glue).
But this does not explain how Aland in Rottenburg could become a synonym for a masked person. This would require a precise comparative research of all sources on site in which the term is used with this meaning. Against the perfectly conceivable explanation that the fish Aland in Rottenburg was considered a special delicacy on Ash Wednesday and the name was transferred to the people who eat the fish, the fact that this fish was only called Aland in the Danube region, in Upper Swabia and on Lake Constance, on the Neckar but as Schuepfisch ('Schupp (en) fish') was called. Another possibility would be that the Rottenburgers wrapped themselves in alant leather ('leather tanned with alum') and the name of the fabric was metonymically transferred to the person wearing the fabric. Or perhaps with their disguise they represented a well-known person with the name of Aland. In popular belief, the medicinal plant, real elephant, was a plant that repels demons; Worn around the neck as an amulet, it should protect against bewitches.
Rottenburg city witches
The Rottenburger Stadthexen are unique in the association of Swabian-Alemannic fools guilds, because there are only nine of them with their accompanying witches. The head witch, Doggele the drinking witch, Annele and Kätterle the cauldron witch, Traudele the fire witch, Hulda the herb witch, Uschel the magic witch, Hannele the card slayer and Sybille the Heuberger witch.
The city witches introduce the Rottenburger Fasnet on the evening of Epiphany. There they are sent by the master of ceremonies to "dust off" that is associated with all kinds of jokes and spooks. An essential part of the evening of the fat Thursday is the witch's dance on the market square, an eerily beautiful spectacle.
The pompele
The Renaissance stone mask found during construction work on the Powder Tower in the Ehingen district served as a template for the wooden mask carved from linden wood. The "Pompele" differs from the Ahland in the basic color of the hat and more pronounced facial features, fine decorations and, above all, the ram's horns on the mask. The “Pompele” wear a black lambskin as a larval hood, while the smock and trousers are made of brown, fur-like material. A bell made of bronze bells ensures the acoustic conspicuity. The Pompele carries the "Klöpfer", a closed resonance box with an internal connecting rod and a green handle, in its hand. On one side the sound box is painted with ornaments, on the other side the first letters of the wearer as well as his membership number of the Pompele group are painted on.
The historical part
Rottenburg is probably the only fool town that is ruled by "only" one woman during its great carnival days. In it the Countess Mechthild ( Mechthild von der Pfalz ), the former regent of Austria in the Rottenburger Land (1454-1483), celebrates her return for a short time. At that time, the Fraulein von Österreich held “great courtyards and delicious vassnachten” in Rottenburg, as it is called in Zimmer's chronicle * from the end of the 16th century, “once a big race and jump on the market” * ( Zimmerische Chronik ).
At the "Schmotzigen Dausteg", the Countess Mechthild, embodied by a Rottenburg citizen, announces to her subjects from the balcony of the Rottenburg town hall that the carnival is open. She gives the key to the city as a symbol to the jester "Halberdrein". From then on, foolery rules in Rottenburg until Ash Wednesday.
The runner-up
They are neither “white clowns” nor “circus clowns”. The running fools of the guild look for and find their tradition in the figure of Countess Mechthild's playfully frivolous stove-heater Halberdrein. This court jester not only entertained the court, but also the citizens of the market square. In Rottenburg these fools are also known under the name "Bogges".
The fanfare procession
The Fanfarenzug Rottenburg (founded in 2002, taken over as a group in the fool's guild in 2003) plays with pure natural instruments. In practice this means that there are no valves on the wind instruments. All tones are shaped by changing the position of the lips. There are also original Landsknecht drums. The costumes are detailed Landsknecht uniforms from the 16th century, in the city colors of red and white. The fanfare procession in historical Landsknecht uniforms announces the Countess Mechthild and the historical part with natural clay fanfare and mercenary drums. As the only group of the fools guild, the fanfare parade also appears outside of the carnival.
The Rottenburger Fasnet
- The Rottenburger Fasnet begins on the evening of Epiphany with the dusting of the masks.
- The main carnival starts on Schmotzige Thursday with the proclamation and proclamation of the freedom of fools by “Countess Mechthild”. Then traditional witches dance followed by expulsion through the Ahlande.
- Carnival Friday: Seniors Carnival
- Carnival Saturday: guild mass, followed by street carnival
- Carnival Sunday: Great Carnival "Ommzug"
- Carnival Monday: Fool Seed Parade followed by feeding of Fool Seed (Children's Carnival)
- Various foolish events in the festival hall
- Carnival live: In the guild house
- Carnival Tuesday: Ahlandt baptism, carnival burning in the evening
