Meenzer Karneval 2011
(Mainz Trip)
After a hiatus of 7 years, the Rheinischer Verein returned to Mainz am Rhein for
their Karneval celebrations.
80 club members strong including 20 Fanfaren, 6 Amazonen dancers, Elferrat and
Prinzenpaar made up our group.
We all arrived Friday morning in Frankfurt and proceeded to our base Hotel Ibis
in Mainz, temperature forecast was 40° and sunny. Just upon arrival you could
tell the whole town was already in a Karneval party mood. People were strolling
through downtown in costume or formal Karneval club attire, there were food
stands everywhere, live music and carnival rides for kids were in full action.
We kicked off the evening in Joe Matuschkas’s hometown, Lörzweiler, for an
introductory dinner. Theme for the season is: Lörzweiler Air
The Lörzweiler Carnival Club was ready for us, 400 strong (pop. 2200) they put
on an almost professional Karneval show of dancers including an excellent Männer
(Mens) ballet.
The band (Vis a Vis) had everyone dancing and schunkeln to the time tested
traditional songs to… ‘Ooopm There It Is!’. The Lörzweiler Carneval Club (LCC)
MC ”Sascha” managed the evening as all of their groups including the Fanfaren
and Amazonen performed.
Saturday we slept in to have a late breakfast and we already were surrounded by
everyone in costume, for the novice this looked like a giant Halloween festival!
Our hotel housed several clubs, including a 35 piece Fasching band from
Switzerland, they just came to Mainz to play in the street anywhere there was an
audience.
In the evening we headed again to Lörzweiler for their Masquerade Ball, again
the LCC put on a show worthy of a TV appearance. The Stimmung was bombastic and
everyone was dancing. This is where I also noticed the simple Karneval battle
cry…‘Helau’ (No alaaf).
Sunday our club returned to Lörweiler to participate in their town (Umzug)
parade. I did not join them. Upon their return, the Fanfaren and Swiss Fasching
Club had a jam session in the hotel lobby. It was at this time the Karneval
Stimmung in the streets of Mainz, packed with people, became hyper.
Later in the evening our friends, Bill and Darlene Fuchs invited their friend
Helmut to our hotel. Helmut showed up dressed as a monk with his accordion.
Reinhart, our President, joined him with his accordion for a 2 hour jam session.
The whole bar area joined in to sing with us… what a blast!!!
Rosenmontag (Monday) came just too soon. Through connections (Joe Matuschka,
knows the Bürgermeister of Mainz) we had our own float in the Rosenmontag
Parade. The Fanfaren Amazonen and LCC club, with our float, made up our group.
Our float was number 25 out of 150 groups. Our float was manned by 17 members,
most in USA jackets. For the next 2 hours we were proceeding 7 kilometers,
through a dense crowd of half a million people.
Helau, Helau, Helau, was the joyful cry for the next 2 hours!
We tossed beads, candy and packs of candy and later full boxes of candy to the
fervent crowd. Besides candy throwing I was also busy picture-taking and finally
noticed everyone on board of the float. Our Prinzenpaar was elevated in the rear
of the float and Joe, our Ehren President, had even found a higher perch on the
float as…” Caesar (Seppl) waved to his disciples.
I was in heaven… overhead t.v. cameras were by the main stage broadcasting live
throughout Europe. At the end of the parade we had to struggle our way back to
the hotel as float number 150 barely left the starting point. Yes, we saw every
type of costume, floats and music groups one can imagine.
All of Mainz was on the move and the Deutsche (Germans) were the friendliest
people in a Karneval euphoria. As evening approached we realized the 4 story
stage next to our hotel was part of a giant street fest. Not your normal street
fest… because many were in costume and had little inhibitions.
There was a major mob scene of party revelers dancing to heavy bass music you
could feel in your bones. We joined them outside the hotel only to be driven
back by the craziness, including thousands of broken bottles that jugendliche
(youth) were tossing and dancing on!
The party stopped at 11.11 p.m. sharp.
Tuesday was almost sobering, we walked through a busy town with only a few
people left in costume. As we sat in a cafe begging for service, another parade
of 50 convertible cars passed us with Karneval dignitaries looking for
attention. The Lörzweiler women dancing group dressed as flight attendants made
the front page of the prominent BILD zeitung because… they were stunning!
That evening we bussed to Lörzweiler again for the traditional Lumpenball
(Beggars Ball) and burial of Karneval at 12. Upon our arrival we were joined by
3 couples, Karnevalisten from Mainz that we had met at the Steuben Parade in
New York. YEAH… there is an immediate bond among Karnevalisten. Schunkeln,
dancing and hugging took place all in a blur before the evening bus took us
back, just too soon.
The echo of musik in my head… immer wieder, immer wieder… einmal am Rhein… am
Aschermittwoch ist alles vorbei ,,,left me with a Karneval buzz. Exhilaration
can only describe the last 5 days. I love Karneval.
www.mardigraschicago.com (check out
Facebook too)
Hans Wolf
Marshall Wolf Automation, Inc.
923 S. Main Street
Algonquin, IL 60102
hwolf@wolfautomation.com
www.WolfAutomation.com
847-658-8130 x14
Fax: 847-658-0960
 |
