Sunshine and hustle and bustle – the traditional Shrove Monday processions have attracted tens of thousands of onlookers to the Hessian carnival strongholds. There was also a record.
Fulda/Seligenstadt/Fritzlar (dpa/lhe) – After the forced break caused by the corona pandemic, tens of thousands of people in Hesse again celebrated boisterously at Rose Monday parades in several cities. To the cheers of the spectators, floats, foot groups and music groups paraded through the streets of several cities. According to the police, the moves in Fulda, Fritzlar and Seligenstadt went without incident until late afternoon.
There was also a record to report: up to 90,000 onlookers lined the streets for the traditional Rose Monday procession in Fulda – called “Romo” for short – more than ever before, as Hans-Jürgen Dröge from the Romo Committee of the German Press Agency said . In addition to the joy about the comeback of the fifth season after the long corona-related break, the beautiful weather with sunshine and mild temperatures should also have contributed to this. “It couldn’t be nicer,” said Dröge.
With more than 4000 participants, this year’s Romo was almost as extensive as the last edition in 2020. It comprised 258 train units, including 61 vehicles and motif wagons, and 180 foot groups. A police spokesman also spoke of an exuberant and happy atmosphere in the city, and there were no significant incidents. According to a city spokesman, the children’s parade in Fulda the day before attracted a record number of more than 20,000 visitors.
In Seligenstadt, before the start of the Shrove Monday parade, the fools first held a minute’s silence for the earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria. At 2.03 p.m. the procession started, which, according to the Heimatbund of the city in the Offenbach district, is one of the largest Shrove Monday parades in the region with up to 100 numbers. Around 40,000 spectators were expected. The first fools had already met at 7.11 in the morning for the prince’s traditional “wake-up call” on the market square. According to the police, there were no disturbances during the move. There was a good carnival mood among the spectators and everything was peaceful.
The Rose Monday parade also started in Fritzlar in northern Hesse in the afternoon – this year in a slimmed-down version, as Otto May said, Vice President of the carnival association FKG Die Eddernarren. In the past week, the safety requirements have been tightened again, so that part of the original section of the route had to be closed. Instead of the usual 70 to 75 train numbers, only 57 cars started. “On the shorter route, the many cars would only have stood in each other’s way,” explains May. Safety comes first. According to the police, around 9,000 spectators celebrated with the hustle and bustle. There were no special incidents or police operations, the move went smoothly.