Mainzer Fastnacht — Schissmelle-Dienstagszug Mombach

While the Mainz Rose Monday parade is one of the best-known and largest carnival parades in Germany, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators to the city centre on Rose Monday, Shrove Tuesday in Mainz is traditionally the day for district parades. In numerous Mainz suburbs — Mombach, Bretzenheim, Drais, Gonsenheim, Marienborn, Laubenheim, and many others — there are separate parades that carry the carnival events from the city centre into the neighbourhood and festively celebrate the last day of the campaign before Ash Wednesday.

The Mombach Schissmelle-Dienstagszug, organised by the Mombach Carnival clubs, is one of the most traditional of these district parades. Its peculiar name refers to the Schissmellen — typical Mombach Carnival figures — and to the powerful, direct form in which Mombach Fastnacht celebrates its identity. The parade starts in the afternoon around the jester-typical time of 2:33 PM at the meeting point at Kreuzstraße / corner of Suderstraße and winds its way through the central streets of Mombach.

The parade typically includes carnival floats from local clubs, schools, kindergartens, and individual Mombach families and groups, as well as walking groups in diverse costumes, the guards of the Mombach Carnival clubs in uniform, brass bands playing carnival marches, and decorated handcarts and Bobby car vehicles for children. Thousands of spectators cheer from the sidelines, catching candies, Strüßjer (small bouquets of flowers), and plush figures thrown from the floats, and joining in the typical Mainz Helau shouts and carnival songs.

After the parade ends, the Mombach Tuesday Fastnacht continues in the local pubs, festival halls, and district meeting places. The Schissmelle party in the pubs and the last hours before Ash Wednesday bring Mombach revellers together for a cheerful yet melancholic conclusion to the campaign. Those who wish to experience Mainz Fastnacht in its village-district form, far from the grand staging of the Rose Monday parade, will find an authentic and intense stage in the Mombach Schissmelle-Dienstagszug.