The fact that there were five of the alleged three kings would not in itself have been suspicious. After all, someone has to wear the star, and an adult companion is often not wrong either. The five alleged fraudsters, whom the Oberstdorf police claim to have caught singing the wrong carol, made the suspects that three of them were women between the ages of 31 and 34 and only two children between the ages of eleven and 14.
On the other hand, the real kings are said to have been adults back then. The sources are a matter of faith, but purely in terms of age, the Dreikönigssänger in Töging in Upper Bavaria would be closer than the usual child carol singers. But they are now lagging behind with their blackfacing debate.
After a two-year Corona break and a mature internal debate, the Töginger singers went through the city for the first time this year without members wearing black make-up. The fact that everyone now appeared with the skin color that they have is controversial in Töging. Mayor Tobias Windhorst (CSU), for example, recently wished at the New Year’s reception that people should “swing the moral club” less often. Nobody had hit the singers from the outside, with whatever. Rather, the suggestion arose from a discussion among the singers.
The discussion about the singers really got Windhorst’s New Year’s wish going, it’s documented in the Alt-Neuoettinger Gazette. Some therefore point out that blackfacing has long been unusual and that the “Sternsinger” children’s charity of the Catholic Church also applies the simple formula “Come as you are!” has brought. In addition, the robes were easier to clean afterwards.
However, the argument that this might save you from unpleasant discussions is no longer valid. The other side essentially argues that there have always been black-painted Epiphany singers in Töging for almost a hundred years. In any case, the undisputed core of the tradition is the star song, which, together with the singer, made its way from Ettal to Töging in 1928. According to his fifth line, any kind of make-up is not worth it anyway: “O star of faith, the world is blind.”