

is located in Beuel – since 1824



On Weiberfastnacht, it’s time for men to do their laundry.
The year is 1824. At a time when men traditionally rule the carnival, a handful of Beuel washerwomen no longer want to put up with this gender division. The hard-working women, who were the pillar of a centuries-old industry in Bonn with their energy, no longer just wanted to do the laundry from the surrounding cities, but also wanted to have fun.
When, as every year, their husbands drove to Cologne on the Thursday before Carnival to deliver the freshly washed laundry and indulge in the carnival cravings extensively, the washerwomen started the escape from the usual female role: They sat down together for a coffee klatsch – the birth of the Weiberfastnacht. In the following years, more and more married women, so-called Möhne, joined the laundresses. Men were only admitted to the hall at the end of the event. Out of this hustle and bustle, the Beuel Women’s Carnival soon developed its triumphal march through the Rhenish lands, in which the supposedly stronger sex also increasingly took a liking. Since then, the big celebration has begun with the storming of the town hall.

200 years of Weiberfastnacht
The Weiberfastnacht in the Bonn district of Beuel will celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2024.
In 1824, the first committee of “washerwomen” was founded, today’s Old Beuel Ladies’ Committee. The Beuel washerwomen defended themselves against the dominance of men and the associated exploitation of women. “200 Years of Beuel Women’s Carnival”. At the end, Mayor Katja Dörner, patron of the anniversary, once again emphasized the importance of this custom for the district:
“The Weiberfastnacht is a real unique selling point. Because in Beuel was invented what millions of people in the Rhineland celebrate today.”
Ina Harder, chairwoman of the Beuel Women’s Carnival Association, also draws a positive conclusion: “We not only celebrated a great session in the anniversary year, but also showed at many events that the Beuel Women’s Carnival can still give important impulses to women today.”
The highlights of the anniversary year in review
- The proclamation of the washer princess Sabrina I. (Michel) became a ceremony under the motto “NRW congratulates Beuel” with mainly female forces from Beuel and all of North Rhine-Westphalia, including the president of the stunk session, Biggi Wanninger.
- The washer princess Sabrina I. made around 150 appearances in the anniversary session. A special highlight was the appearance at the Tollenreception of the Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, to which she represented the state of North Rhine-Westphalia at the invitation of the Bund Deutscher Karneval.
- It was not only the celebrity appearances that left special impressions on the anniversary princess: “At a carnival party of the integrative sports group Bananenflanke, I explained how to Bützen to people with disabilities and danced with them in the round. That touched me emotionally, to feel so much real joy,” says Sabrina.
- A commemorative book on the origin of Weiberfastnacht was published, as was a children’s colouring book for work in daycare centres, which was quickly sold out. A school project teaches pupils about the customs.
The museums also participated: The Women’s Museum Bonn pointed out the tradition of Weiberfastnacht in an exhibition on the role of women in Bonn’s carnival. The Beuel Museum of Local History showed a much-visited special exhibition for the anniversary. - For the first time, an open-air concert took place on the banks of the Rhine in Beuel: “200 Years of Beuel Women’s Carnival” with many well-known Rhenish bands such as Brings, Cat Balou and Bläck Fööss.
- On the eve of International Women’s Day, Mayor Katja Dörner invited to a reception in the Old Town Hall.
- The Beuel Women’s Carnival presented itself with an information stand at the big “Festival of Democracy” in May in the park of Villa Hammerschmidt with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Council President Manuela Schwesig as well as around 80,000 people. The occasion for the celebration was the 75th anniversary of the Basic Law “made in Bonn”.
- The Beuel Women’s Carnival Association invited to a matinee “Strong Women in Europe and in Bonn” one day later. The former President of the Bundestag, Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth, gave a moving lecture on the empowerment of women in politics and society.

So that no one has to look stupid out of the laundry
In order for a washer princess to really get going, she has to swing something – a scepter is best. And to ensure that a Women’s Carnival is not only an event, but has cult character, an attractive coat of arms is a natural part of the repertoire. You can find out here what the two symbols in connection with the Beuel Carnival are all about, as well as everything about the unique symbolic figures that give our Weiberfastnacht that special touch.
Bröckemännche, Bröckeweibchen, Beueler Waschfrau, Stitze Män and Schultheißin are the names of the five characters who belong to the Weiberfastnacht here in Beuel like the shore to the Rhine. But what significance do these figures actually have? What is the story behind each of them? And what do they have to do with the carnival here on the sunny side of the Rhine? You can find out all this and more here:
In Beuel we wield the scepter – and what a scepter.
It is thanks to the good powers of observation of two carnival-loving journalists that the Beuel laundress princess has been wielding an elegant scepter since 1968. When the two looked at the hands of the then new regent, they could see a high degree of nervousness that could not be hidden. Rolf Tanski, then local editor of the Bonner Rundschau, together with his colleague Hartmut Palmer, had the saving idea: a scepter was needed.

Sceptre instead of trembling.
With the help of an elegant ruler’s staff, the shaky hand of the princess was to be confidently immobilized. Just in time for the proclamation, the masterpiece, which shows a mischievous grinning Bröckemännchen (see also Figures, Bröckemännchen) at its top, was then also finished. The construction costs of 100 marks were generously borne by the mayor at the time, Hans Steger. A copy of the sceptre can be admired today in the Beuel Museum of Local History.
The Beuel coat of arms with the ferry bobbing on blue waves picks up on Beuel’s historical past in terms of content – after all, ferry shipping played a major role here for a long time due to the lack of bridges over the Rhine. The 13 stars in the coat of arms symbolize the 13 places that today belong to the Beuel city association and traditionally have a strong life of their own. Since 24.8.1952 Beuel has been officially a city, from the same day the coat of arms was used.

Symbol of resistance.
When the first Rhine bridge was completed in Bonn in 1889, people in Beuel were not at all ecstatic – after all, the bridge landed much further north than the people of Beuel had expected and planned for road technology. In protest against what they saw as a failed building, the people on the right bank of the Rhine simply gave it a wide berth and did not participate in the construction costs. With the attachment of a Bröckemännche carved out of stone, which stretched its rear end towards the Beuelers, the Bonners acknowledged the behavior of the Beuelers. When the bridge was destroyed in the Second World War, the Bröckemännche also went swimming, but was saved by Philipp Otto from Beuel, the landlord of the restaurant “Zum kleinen Museum”. When the 125th anniversary of Weiberfastnacht was celebrated in Beuel in 1949, Otto made his secret public – and so the little guy was chauffeured through the streets of Beuel on a decorated wagon and triumphantly cheered. Afterwards, the battered Bröckemännche was handed over to the city of Bonn, which had it restored.
After a short time, the little goblin was back at the bridge and was mounted below the pillar.
Today, however, its rear end points southeast towards Frankfurt – as a small side blow to the defeat of the Main metropolis at the time in the fight for the federal capital decision.

With slippers against the Bröckemännche.
Until the end of the Second World War, the Bröckeweibchen was located on the Beuel side of the Rhine – the feminine counterpart to the Bröckemännche. The figure, carved into the stone with a slipper in his hand in a threatening gesture, was made in 1898 by the sculptor Brasche and hung on the right pillar of the Rhine bridge until it was destroyed. Subsequently, the female Bröckebchen disappeared from the history books and did not reappear until 1949. In order to create a monument for their 125th anniversary of the Beuel Women’s Carnival, the Old Beuel Women’s Committee placed the figure on a pedestal on the banks of the Rhine. The signature: “De Welt es e Laake dat selvs de Beueler net wäsche könne.” Since 2006, the Bröckeweibchen has been integrated into the new wall as part of the flood protection project. For this purpose, it was impregnated by the stonemason Michael Neundorf and provided with a bronze plaque made by the sculptor Sigrid Wenzel with the above-mentioned saying.
To this day, she points with her grim face and the threatening slipper in the direction of the naked Bröckemännche – an entertaining threatening gesture and fopping game that makes many bridge crossers smile again and again.

Symbolic figure of the Beuel washerwomen.
The monument to the Beuel washerwoman is a silent witness to a trade that shaped life in Bonn in large parts of the 18th and 19th centuries. The washerwomen were legendary and they still are today thanks to the wonderful customs of the carnival. If you would like to learn more about this, a visit to the Beuel Museum of Local History is strongly recommended.

A Beuel original.
Contrary to what the name suggests, the Stitze Männ is a woman who asserts herself in life like a man, fearlessly took up every fight into old age and always remained the winner. The name of the cult figure goes back to the fact that the woman wanted to replace her father’s deceased son and thus protect him from grief. So she remained the Stitze Männ even after the death of her father. Three years before the end of the 19th century, the Stitze Männ joined the ranks of the women’s committee and very soon took over the leadership of the Women’s Carnival.
Everyone makes sense of it
To the brave mayoress greetings and praise,She
is the ornament of foolishness, And shines in the colorful circle
of caps As sparkling sapphire. So raise the glasses still And
shout in full chorus of joy:
Long live it, live the mayoress! She sprays out the greatest jokes from her colorful throne
;
She is a real child of foolishness,A
cross-fiddly house.
So salute as it deserves,To
the heroine who leads us so well,Long
live it, long live the mayoress! Her bunk shines as bright
as the sun Like a meteor;
It sounds as bright as
silver bells Into every fool’s ear. Throw up the caps,It
is for the fool-matador,Long
live the mayor’s wife!
If she sticks her nose into her glass
And seeks the philosopher’s stone,If
her lip wets the fragrant wetness,Then
follow the guide finely.
Then one laughs so that the belly vibrates,With
jubilation is then venerated:
Long live, long live the mayoress! We swear eternal loyalty to her,As
long as the carnival lasts.
Poisonous
of the revolt Never draw the sharp sword:
As surely as the wine refreshes the heart,Keep
our faithfulness undisturbed
And rejoice, and rejoice in the dear mayoress!
Weiberfastnacht and
the role model of women.
You can see the Beuel Women’s Carnival as a purely carnival act – and that’s what it should and wants to be. Nevertheless, the thought should be allowed whether there is not much more to be seen behind the self-confident appearance of the Beuel washerwomen than “just” a flame of exuberance that flares up for a short time, which then boils again halfway until the next session. In times when there is so much discussion about the role model of women, the Women’s Carnival is something like the discovery of women’s power. On Weiberfastnacht, the women take the helm, the power and only give it up when they feel like it. Women’s Carnival is emancipation in action. And the men don’t know how to oppose her – because they don’t want to, because their hands are tied, because they have nothing to oppose the charm of the Wiever.
Women, how about a little more Weiberfastnacht power in everyday life? The men could make good use of it.