"Finally we can celebrate again," calls Reingard Veit into the hall.
Of course, the chairwoman of the Frankfurt carnival society Narrhalla 1948 refers to the pandemic years, which also ordered the fools to take an unwanted break.
But Veit hits the right note with her words of welcome, since celebrations can of course also seem a little inappropriate in the face of crises such as the war in Ukraine, terrorist attacks in Israel or crises such as inflation.
So Veit asks if it is appropriate to celebrate Fastnacht.
"There is only one answer to that: we have to celebrate carnival," she says.
The crowd cheers: "Helau!"
For the 75th anniversary of the Narrhalla, a good 250 carnivalists and revelers came to the Saalbau Volkshaus Enkheim on Borsigallee on Saturday.
The majority is dressed up, the hall is well filled, and so the swaying music of the DJ mixes with a sea of voices that is repeatedly broken up by loud laughter.
The mood is cheerful and exuberant, there seems to be a lot of catching up to do.
Today one should “forget the worries and hardships and spend a nice evening,” says Veit, who is standing in for Michaela Reichmann, who is suffering from poor health, as chairperson of the session.
She briefly talks about the attacks on the police and emergency services on New Year's Eve in several German cities, for which she has no understanding.
These people are there for everyone, "whether male, female or diverse".
The words sound positively soothing because, given the happy hustle and bustle, they don't ignore the reality outside the door.
In accordance with the campaign motto of the Frankfurt royal couple of the Great Council, an association of around fifty Frankfurt carnival associations, rainbow flags are laid out on every table, as at so many meetings in these weeks of the fifth season.
"Frankfurt's Fastnacht - shrill and fine, and six colors to boot" is the message that His Madness Larry I. and Her Loveliness Nadin I. want to spread.
Shortly after 9 p.m. the royal couple is in the hall.
"It's incredibly great to look back at all those smiling faces," says Larry and is praised by Veit for the campaign: "You're doing a great season." Her loveliness Nadin I. emphasizes the motto: "The colorful message is us important, live freely, then you live properly.” After a quarter of an hour they leave the hall again.
They still have to go to other meetings that evening, but their message and the promotion of tolerance, especially during the sometimes casual carnival, got through.
The session is peppered with varied performances: guard, solo and show dances, comedy, a ventriloquist and the marching band The Sound of Frankfurt ensure a program that is cheered on by the audience.
The President of the Great Council, Axel Heilmann, and Kerstin Cikac also appear with a kind of duel of "men" against "girls", in which Cikac convincingly defends himself against Heilmann's whining about his "fear of his wife".
In real life, she blows her partner the narrhalla, so to speak.
The best response, however, was received by Thomas "Bäppi" Bäppler-Wolf, SPD city councilor and well-known face of the carnival and homosexual scene in Frankfurt, who humorously deals with the last few years of the pandemic.
"Imagine if the virus hadn't gone to the lungs, but to the intestines, so everyone would have worn diapers." Bäppler-Wolf, who in the days after New Year's Eve because of an emotional video he later regretted on social networks, in he compared attackers on rescue workers to "monkeys" on New Year's Eve, has received harsh criticism, moves on stage on safe territory and avoids anything too political.
Instead, he strikes up harmless swanky songs, including "Humba Tätärä" or "Rucki Zucki" by the Mainz carnival legend Ernst Neger, and starts a polonaise through the hall.
The evening ends with a spectacular dance by a group from TSG Neuenhain and the musical finale by KUK reloaded, a combo of the three carnival stars Klaus Schönmann, Uwe Forstmann and Klaus Wimmer.