Just a few weeks ago there was great confidence: Tanzmariechen rehearsed choreographies, word acrobats honed their jokes. 11/11 punctually at 11.11 a.m. in some places fools ushered in the fifth season and presented new princesses and princes – albeit on a smaller scale than usual. But the impending fifth corona wave spills over cheerfulness and serenity. In Bavaria, more and more clubs are canceling their carnival events.
“The greatest possible health protection for everyone involved and compliance with the requirements of the Bavarian State Government have top priority for all those responsible,” said Marco Anderlik, President of the Franconian Carnival Association recently in a press release. The recording of the traditional broadcast “Franken Helau” planned for the end of January, a format of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation (BR), which broadcasts the splendor meeting of another carnival association on television every year, should this year in Amorbach im Odenwald (district of Miltenberg) take place and has already been postponed to the year 2023. Those responsible are still sticking to the planning of the cult program “Fastnacht in Franken” in Veitshöchheim, which is to run on television on February 18. “Carnival is a matter close to the heart of the BR, but we cannot force anything, but unfortunately just wait and see what the coming weeks bring,” said BR studio manager Tassilo Forchheimer shortly before Christmas. A decision should be made in January. Last year, due to the corona pandemic, the program was recorded for the first time since it was first broadcast in 1987 – without an audience and with a laugh from the tape.
The largest carnival parade in southern Germany “to the right of the Rhine”, so the self-promotion, will not take place on Rose Monday. Usually up to 100,000 people watch the foolish goings-on at the carnival parade in Würzburg. The grand gala ceremony and the prince’s ball were also canceled. 11/11 In the Franconian Mardi Gras stronghold, around 150 people gathered on Sternplatz, and the 1st Carnival Society Elferrat Würzburg eV tried to spray carnival normality. In Dietfurt, however, not even the start of the carnival took place and the well-known Chinese carnival was canceled again for 2022 due to the corona pandemic. “With a heavy heart”, as Bernd Mayr, First Mayor of the Upper Palatinate City, announced.
Seniors’ carnival, town hall storm and carnival procession followed by a celebration on Schlossplatz, all planned for February, were called off in Aschaffenburg at the end of November. “The decision is painful, especially for the carnival clubs that have been preparing for the events for months,” said Mayor Jürgen Herzing (SPD). But according to the city, there were hardly any program items available for the event, because many clubs canceled events themselves and interrupted the rehearsals because of the conditions. Similar in the east of the Free State: The regional association of East Bavarian carnival societies canceled the carnival procession planned for Regensburg in 2022, and the carnival society Narragonia Regensburg canceled all planned events. The state capital remains optimistic. “Even if this year, due to the pandemic, face-to-face events cannot take place as usual, the Mardi Gras (…) will still take place for Munich society, or precisely because of it. Even if again in a different presentation and form,” said Elferratin Beatrice Nawrath. Above all, people in social institutions and retirement homes should be entertained. “Because especially in these difficult times for all of us, it is an affair of the heart for the Narrhalla to bring a little joy and courage to life, even to the people who cannot participate in the hustle and bustle of Carnival themselves,” says Nawrath.