With music into the new year – St. Blasien

Making music instead of firecrackers will be the motto on New Year’s Eve. All residents are called to sing the Menzenschwander New Year’s song outdoors at 0.15 a.m. Musicians from the Musikverein will also be there. The text and melody of the song will soon be available on a separate homepage.

Singing the Menzenschwander New Year’s song has a tradition that goes back decades, if not longer. In the past, people in the Hinterdorf met after midnight to wish each other good luck for the new year and to sing the New Year’s song together, recalls one resident. And the conductor of the Menzenschwander Musikverein, Joachim Kaiser, reports on New Year’s Eve celebrations where singing the song was a matter of course. As before, every year children and young people go from house to house on New Year’s morning to greet their fellow citizens with the New Year’s song. The song is also always on the program at the local administration’s New Year’s reception.

In the corona year, however, a lot is different. The Menzenschwander team wanted to stick to tradition. And so the idea was born to sing the New Year’s song together on New Year’s Eve – everyone in front of their house or on the balcony, in compliance with corona. Musicians from the Musikverein are also on board, they will accompany the singers on their instruments. Now it is hoped that the song will be heard all over the place – continuity in difficult times. This hope is justified because in future it will be forbidden to burn down New Year’s Eve fireworks in the area to protect the old buildings. And from this initiative a new tradition could develop on New Year’s Eve: making music instead of firecrackers.