Baptism in a dodgem car
Big day for three fairground girls
Cologne - It was a big day for Chelsey (7), Sally (2) and Lindsy (1). The showman cousins were baptized Friday - befitting their status at the Deutz funfair!
Priest Sascha Ellinghaus (43) conducted the baptism in the bumper car, with folding altar and beer benches for the guests. "Actually, the baptisms should already be on Easter Sunday. But as it is, not all relatives had time," says Ellinghaus.
Since 2014, he has been in charge of the " Catholic Circus and Showpeople Chaplaincy of the German Bishops' Conference". Last year, the clergyman celebrated nearly 40 baptisms in NRW. "For this year, there are about eight so far," he adds.
Fair Communion!
BILD at an unusual mass in the "Black Forest-Christel
Fair Communion! Unusual mass in the "Schwarzwald-Christel".
Jakob (13, left) and Aaron (11) during the mass in grandma's Black Forest house. In the background: the showpeople congregation
Düsseldorf - Instead of incense, it smells like fried chicken. A beer advertisement shines above the mobile altar. And the service-goers are not sitting in pews, but at beer tables with green-and-white-checked blankets.
The fairground community celebrated the communion of the "Schwarzwaldchristel"-grandchildren Jakob (13) and Aaron (11), and at the same time the baptism of their brothers Carl (4) and Sascha (1) - and that in grandma's "Schwarzwaldhaus". Their mom Claudia Wolter-Bruch (39): "This is definitely our 20th mass here over the years. Our whole family is into the Rheinkirmes. At least everyone gets together here...."
The procedure is like a normal communion. But: At the end, the stall and ride owners say the fairground prayer and the priest wishes "good business" and "good fair weather".
What else is different: the atmosphere. Claudia: "Not as depressed as often in church...." Here, during the "Our Father" under the stag's antlers, people also laugh sometimes.
Ellinghaus, who travels almost 60,000 kilometers a year to visit circus people, market traders and showpeople all over Germany, likes to come here: "The atmosphere is different from church, people know each other. And I find it rather exciting that at the fair I'm pastor, janitor and sexton all in one!"
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