Brauchtumsabend in the Schwarzwald (Satis Shroff)

European Culture in the Black Forest:
BRAUCHTUMSABEND 2017 IN FREIBURG-KAPPEL (Satis Shroff)

The evening began with the marching in of the Schauins länder Berggeister which lasted five minutes with fanfare from the one-man electronic band .
The handing over the kend ceremony was performed by Mr. Hermann Dittmers and Manual Weber. The mayor has to hand over the key of the town to the merriment of the local verein, which is an old tradition.
This was followed by the Narrenspiel with the Schauinsländer Berggeister demonstrating their skill with the sticks that they wield. I love the masks and costumes of the Berggeister with the yellow and green leafy dress and bells chat chime when they move or dance. Every year the story of how a girl, this time depicted by Lorena Linder, my old friend Richard Linder’s grandchild, was rescued by a Berggeist from a big avalanche. The other participants in the story were: Jörg Andris, Sebastian Linder, Fabian Schweizer, Sandro Hug and Raphael Birkle. 
Hip Hop dance is ‘in’ in Kappel and was performed by the dance group of the Sport Association( verein), followed by the Junghäs dance group with a sketch with the following members: Steffi Wehrle, Bianca Albrecht, Sarah and Tamara Tröger, Lorena Linder, Sofia Albrecht and Lena and Felix Wehrle.
When people are gather in the Kappler Hall there’s always a round of Schunkel songs during which you have to hook you arm around the people to the left and right and move in rhythm to the music being played. It’s great fun and everyone sings the text.
The town council boat (Rathausboote) Kappel was then performed about ‘what’s up’ in the hamlet of Kappel during which the knaves are allowed to a bit political. This time it was President Trump and his doings in the White House as well as politics in the local town.
Then came the Neonlight Tanz, a dance performed mainly by girls wearing masks to the tune of catchy music and the dancers were: Juliane Schweizer, Milla Minuth, Lorena Linder, Anna Lene Riesterer, Tamara and Sarah Tröger, Ekatherina Ehemann, Yvonne Soubeyre and Lonie Lenger.
A long, interesting interview with the local mayor of Kappel was performed by Anke Schultheis, Josef Riedinger and the camera-lady was Anne, all from the Art and Culture Verein (KKV).
After the intermission it was the turn of the men’s choir (Männergesangverein-Kappel) dressed as pirates, with the conductor Frauke Alpermann at the keyboard, Alexander Dammerau and Satis Shroff. The first song was ‘Speedy Gonzales’ sung by solo by Satis Shroff, followed by the men’s choir singing ‘Santiano’ a German sea-man’s song and an Aloha song from Hawaii. 
This was followed by the men’s ballet (Männerballet), which was more about a show of the male prowress with the pelvic girdle, and the audience seemed to like it because they received an encore. The males who performed this swivel hip act were: Raphael and marius Birkle, Sebastian Linder, Sandro Hug, Fabian Schweizer Julian Lenger and Jörg Andris.
The Bänkle, which is actually a bench places somewhere in scenic Kappel for the benefit of tired wanderer who sit, relax and chat about what’s happened in the hamlet in the past year and was performed by a duo: Sebastian Linder and Manuel Weber.
The life of toilet-woman (Klofrau) from the Bundestag based in Berlin, was an extremely long Büttenrede, a monologue, presented by the German Red Cross (DRK). The red-head Monika Keller held the talk about the gastro-intestinal habits and the human solid waste of the nation’s parliamentarians and how they could improve politics. I wonder what she’ll come up with next year.
The story of Snow White and the Seven Horny Dwarfs took an excursion towards the erotic and the performers were: Georg Schweizer, Marius Birkle, Christopher Weber, Andreas Wehrle, Daniel Linder, Sebastian Linder, Wolfgang and Astrid Schweizer. It was a long evening and after that we had Berliner, bread with salmon and lots of German champaigne. 
Dankeschön and Gute Nacht.