Surrender is not an option.

At least not for the Mainz Fastnights, who after a corona-related forced break, finally want to sway, sing and show their joie de vivre again.

“It doesn't help moaning and scolding,” shouted Mayor Michael Ebling (SPD), the fool people who appeared on Schillerplatz on the eleventh of the eleventh and who had lined up to celebrate the start of the new campaign from 11.11 a.m.: “It only helps vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate! "

Markus Schug

Correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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The few thousand, many of whom had come to the carnival fountain in costumes and masks but without an FFP2 protective mask, didn't really need to be told.

Because the Mainzer Carneval-Verein (MCV) from 1838 organized the traditional event on a fenced-in place this time only for people who can be proven to have been vaccinated or recovered.

Everyone else had to stay outside.

And yet, even of those who appeared to read the Foolish Basic Law, which consisted of eleven articles, many spoke of a "surreal situation" because you are in the middle of the fourth wave and the number of infected people in Germany is higher than ever was before.

Rose Monday procession uncertain

However, if possible, there should be 2G meetings in the campaign, announced MCV President Reinhard Urban. Whether a Rose Monday procession could also be set up in 2022, however, cannot be predicted by anyone at the moment. The motif wagons that are part of the Mainz Carnival, head-high caricatures made of Styrofoam, should definitely be built in order to be prepared if, on February 28, as many fools would like, it should be again: “De Zuch is coming ! "

Accompanied by a fool's hall march, Maria and Max Metzmacher, masked with completely unnerving masks, go onto the stage that is set up for the start of the carnival campaign in the North West Center.

As “His Tollity” Max II and “Your Loveliness” Maria I, they leave the stage a good four times eleven minutes and a few Helau later again with his own bodyguard, the prince adorned with a pen and scepter in his hand, the one awarded at the enthronement Insignia of his foolish power.

After the corona-related failure of almost the entire past campaign, the Frankfurt Carnival takes a new attempt to celebrate the foolish days at the end of February.

The concern about Corona is always there

Max II and Maria I are the youngest couple in the history of the Grand Council and at the same time also the first siblings. 19-year-old Maria and her two-year-old brother, whose great-grandfather was once the Carnival Prince in Cologne, come from the family of restaurateur Thomas Metzmacher, who not only has his children as a prince couple, but also his new cider bar located in the northwest center right next to the carnival stage "Die Eselei" as the "Princely House" sends into the foolish race. Metzmacher, known for the "Lame Donkey" in Niederursel, is a sponsor of the Grand Council of Frankfurt Carnival Associations and is making a significant contribution to the financing of the diverse activities of the association of over 50 associations. For this he can place his new location right up to the motto of the campaign,the "It eats and drinks the foolishness in Frankfurt's new 'Eselei'" reads.

Despite the renewed uncertainties accompanying the campaign, he never questioned his commitment. “As a catering business, we never bury our heads in the sand in my restaurants during the entire corona crisis, but found answers from day one, such as the“ Äppler drive-in ”, we have 1.3 tons of goose to go Geese sold, ”says Metzmacher. "As a staunch carnival enthusiast, I am correspondingly optimistic about the campaign."

As carefree as the 222 fools gathered in the Northwest Center for the enthronement of the Prince Couple, all in accordance with the 3G rule applicable in the Northwest Center with a medical mask in front of their mouth and nose, shouting “Frankfurt Helau” in this same spirit, there are so many doubts about the new developments in the Pandemic. The news from Cologne, where the triumvirate had to cancel its appearance at the start of the campaign due to a corona infection of the prince, fit into the mood. "We are in third gear and would like to shift into fifth or even eleventh gear," says Axel Heilmann, President of the Grand Council of the Frankfurt Carnival Associations. “But there is a latent worry. After all, this year we have a set of rules that we can work with. ”Heilmann is optimistic about the Carnival Day under 2G conditions."As things stand, we can sway and sing without a mask," he says. On the other hand, according to his understanding of the latest interpretations of the Corona regulation, Heilmann sees the big move on Shrovetide Sunday still a long way off. "If the train were tomorrow, it certainly couldn't take place, but we hope for new scientific knowledge or favorable developments."

For the member associations of the Great Council, Heilmann at least holds out the prospect of small emergency aid.

You can apply for a grant of 500 euros to prepare the train.

Now the move just has to take place.