Our beloved Mainz Carnival should remain the most beautiful, largest, and oldest folk festival for all future generations and for all previous generations. Those who celebrate Carnival may also work hard.

The dignity of every fool is inviolable. Every citizen of Mainz is called upon to preserve the freedom of fools. Everyone, including our civil servants, the authorities, and of course the city administration, must tolerate the foolish antics. Because the carnival revelers do not get paid for their foolishness.

All fools are equal, whether they are guards or field marshals, presidents or carnival performers. After all, it is only a game that is played during the fifth season. But even in a game, everyone has their duties. No one should be disadvantaged because of a lack of humor or favored because of their pomposity.

Every fool is free. But freedom ends where another fool's freedom begins. Fools want to celebrate with each other, not against each other.

Every fool should find their joy not in alcohol, but in shared experiences. Praise be to every fool who is foolish even when sober. Cheers!

All guards, carnival speakers, flag wavers, committee members, bell bearers, carnival singers, songwriters, ballet girls, Scheierborzeler, and Schnorrer are under the command of Prince Carnival in the name of God Jokus. The critical people of Mainz keep an eye on this by actively attending the meetings, balls, carnival parades, and street carnival.

All Mainz natives and residents should dress up in costumes and act foolishly during the carnival season to keep the tradition alive. The carnival flag, which we use to decorate our windows and streets, is red, white, blue, and yellow.

The carnival clubs, whether they are guards or corporations, must protect our carnival against prudes and philistines and ensure that the fools listen to the people and express the opinion of the people.

The national dish is "Weck - Worscht - Woi" (bread rolls, sausage, and wine). Because food and drink keep body and soul together. We don't think twice about eating the best food. And we don't drink more than our wallets can handle. - God Jokus is kind to our livers.

The carnival greeting from January 1 to Ash Wednesday is "Helau." It should be shouted or sung as often and as loudly as possible.

From New Year's Day to Ash Wednesday, all Mainz residents can be called upon to perform carnival duties. Anyone who refuses to use confetti cannons or wooden guns on grounds of conscience can perform alternative service as a carnival speaker or singer, provided this is acceptable to the people.

We don't want to take ourselves too seriously. Because each of us is only a small part of our carnival. Let's be happy together. Long live carnival.

(by H. Schenk – revised by C. v. Opel)
Given in Mainz, November 11, 2000

It is impossible to determine exactly how far back the tradition of Mainz Carnival dates in the city’s history. There is evidence of carnival revelry as early as the 16th century. It wasn’t until the 19th century, however, that the first carnival clubs were founded in Mainz.

In 1837, the merchant Nikolaus Krieger organized the “Krähwinkler Landsturm,” a colorful parade of revelers. A 15-member carnival vigilante group—the original unit of the Mainz Ranzengarde, founded by the prominent Mainz merchant Johann Kertell—also took part in this precursor to today’s Rose Monday parade. The actual founding of a Ranzengarde battalion—whose uniform was reportedly modeled after that of the fusiliers of Mainz’s last Elector, Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal—took place that same year.

In 1838, the Ranzengarde assumed “military” protection of the first meetings of the newly founded MCV and subsequently also saw itself as the Prince of Carnival’s bodyguard. Carnival tradition dictates that every member of the Ranzengarde must weigh at least two hundredweight gross or have a waist circumference of six feet—a parody of the tall men of the Prussian King Frederick William. The guard owes its name to these big bellies—the “Ranze.”

With the founding of the Mainz Carnival Association (MCV) in 1838 and the approval of its statutes by the Hessian provincial government, the aim was to provide a controllable framework for the “previous unregulated proliferation of carnival activities on the streets and in ballrooms, involving masks and disguises,” through order, organized structure, and aesthetic design.


The basic principle of the Carnival parade, now organized by the Mainz Carnival Association, was to spread “cheerfulness and goodwill.”

However, it was not foreseeable that this cheerful association would take up political issues. During the first Rose Monday parades, people celebrated the marriage between King Carnival and the Virgin Moguntia or the birth of Hanswurst from a giant wine bottle in the market square.

As early as 1838, the year the association was founded, carnival farces and numerous gatherings modeled after the Cologne Carnival set the stage for the “crazy days.” Likewise, from the very beginning, the theatrical farce and the “Kappenfahrt” on Shrove Tuesday were among the key elements of the carnival revelry that still define modern Carnival today.

The organized Rose Monday parade was a satire of the existing social order. Mounted heralds opened the parade, followed by flag and standard bearers, as well as the “Ranzengarde” in new uniforms with padded bellies and long braids. The highlight of the Rose Monday parade was the spectacle surrounding the carnival hero, complete with a state carriage and court, at the market square, where the parade came to a close.

Franz Zitz, the politically active president of the MCV and later a member of the Paulskirche, as well as the democrat Philipp Wittmann, exerted a significant influence on the selection of the Carnival mottos.

The debate over restrictions on freedom of the press, which dominated the Vormärz period, was also addressed in meetings and during the Rose Monday parade, which took place in the new hall of the Frankfurter Hof beginning in 1842. As a clear sign of their criticism, in 1846 they symbolically set fire to a monument representing censorship that had been erected in front of the theater.

The politicization of the Mainz Carnival was further intensified in the 1840s by the publication of the carnival newspapers “Narrhalla” and the “Neue Mainzer Narrenzeitung
.” This marked the birth of Mainz’s distinctive political-literary carnival.

Mainz Carnival increasingly became a mirror of society and political events, as well as of the Mainz way of life. As it became increasingly costly, the city of Mainz provided subsidies, since the MCV could no longer cover the expenses on its own. Until then, the costs of the event had been covered solely by revenue from Carnival sessions and donations. In 1950, for the first time, additional funds for the Carnival parade were raised through the sale of 100,000 parade badges.

During the Third Reich, Carnival offered a few courageous individuals at least a limited forum to voice criticism of the Nazi regime in an elegant, subtle way—reading between the lines of their satirical speeches.

Among the outstanding representatives of this political-literary Carnival were Seppel Glückert and Martin Mundo; but this should not obscure the fact that the majority of carnival speeches were largely apolitical or loyal to the regime and could be misused by the Nazis as a suitable tool for their state propaganda. For example, floats with clearly anti-Semitic and racist messages have been documented in various Rose Monday parades.

For a long time, no other clubs besides the Mainz Ranzengarde and the Mainz Carnival Club were able to exist for the same purpose. It was not until the 1880s that many new clubs emerged, especially in the suburbs of Mainz:

• 1886 the Mombacher Bohnebeitel
• 1892 the Gonsenheimer Schnorreswackler
• 1893 the Eiskalten Brüder

At the same time, new guards were launched:

• 1856 the Mainz Kleppergarde
• 1857 the Haubinger
• 1877 the Kleppergarde Gonsenheim
• 1884 the Mainz Prince's Guard
• 1886 the Princess Guard and the Mombach Prince's Guard
• 1889: The Jocusgarde in Kastel
• 1899 the Mainz Carnival Club (MCC)

All of the aforementioned guards still shape the carnival scene in Mainz today.

1899 saw the birth of the Mainz Carnival Club (MCC), from whose ranks well-known personalities such as Martin Mundo were to emerge. The center of the MCC was the Schöfferhof in Schusterstraße.

Several times a year, they published the carnival newspaper "Narrhalla," which printed the carnival speeches and song lyrics from the meetings. The MCV had taken over the newly built city hall on the banks of the Rhine for its carnival celebrations, which would serve as the "gut Stubb" for the people of Mainz for the next 50 years.

Despite the low level of public subsidies, the MCV had set itself the task of using its income to support financially disadvantaged citizens or those affected by disasters.

In 1844, members donated large sums to the Central Poor Relief Fund and in 1845 to those affected by flooding. They also canceled Carnival events on several occasions in response to political events, such as in 1847 due to famine and in 1857 due to the powder tower explosion.

Even in the turmoil of reconstruction and the poor supply situation after the Second World War, carnival enthusiasts quickly gathered for meetings again in 1946.

For the 1947 carnival campaign, the MCC significantly chose the motto "Humor is when you laugh anyway," with which they defied the difficult living situation.

Even during this period, they did not lose sight of their social commitment. The MCV dedicated special meetings to the evacuated residents of Mainz, and the MCC to the "Association of War Victims and Survivors."

The provincial commissioner of Lichtenberg recognized that institutionalizing Carnival would bring significant tourism revenue to the city. Lichtenberg immediately granted the petitioners' request in 1838, stating, among other things, that "the planned carnival entertainment [will] benefit the city in every respect, not only by keeping the dirty street masks away, but also by attracting many strangers who will leave behind considerable sums of money."

Mainz Carnival steadily developed into a crowd puller and really boosted tourism during the festive days. The expansion of the rail network in the 1860s made it possible to successfully advertise the event in Mainz's neighboring cities. Special trains were put into service and visitors to Mainz Carnival received a special discount on their tickets. In 1873 alone, the Hessische Ludwigsbahn railway transported 26,000 strangers to the carnival stronghold. In 1938, more than 300,000 visitors were counted for the first time. With 3,000 participants on almost 40 floats spread over nine kilometers, it was the largest carnival parade before the festivities were interrupted for twelve years during the war.

The 1955 carnival session, broadcast on television by Südwestfunk under the motto "Mainz wie es singt und lacht" (Mainz as it sings and laughs), was considered brilliant advertising for the city of Mainz. In the following years, the broadcasts led to unbeatable ratings, as did the programs "Mainz bleibt Mainz" (Mainz remains Mainz), which were broadcast from 1965 onwards by ZDF, now based in Mainz. The performers on stage with their carnival speeches, such as Willi Scheu and Herbert Bonewitz, as well as the singing master roofer Ernst Neger, the Mainz court singers, and Margit Sponheimer became real stars and made drinking songs part of the general repertoire.

As the “fifth season,” Mainz Carnival holds a prominent place in the city’s festival calendar. The season kicks off with the annual reading of the eleven Carnival Laws by the mayor from the balcony of the Osteiner Hof on November 11 at 11:11 a.m.

The Carnival sessions do not begin until after the Fools’ Parade on New Year’s Day and build in intensity leading up to the Rose Monday parade. Even today, the exuberance and love of celebration among Mainz residents are considered characteristic traits that are expressed not only during the Carnival festivities.

Schütz, Friedrich in: Mainz. The History of the City of Mainz, edited by Franz Dumont, Ferdinand Scherf, Friedrich Schütz; Mainz, 1998, pp. 809-834

Keim, Anton Maria in: Mainz "Sitzungen." 150 Years of Mainz Saalfastnacht, ed. City of Mainz, Mainz, 1987, pp. 14-22

Kepplinger, Philipp, Our Carnival Parades and Their Parade Management 1838-1995, Mainz, 1994

Citizens' festival and contemporary criticism. 150 years of Mainz carnival. 150 years of the Mainz Carnival Association 1838-1988, published by the Mainz Carnival Association, Mainz, 1987

Hans-Jörg Jakobi: The Secret of the Carnival Fountain, Edition Erasmus 1999 (or 1998).