In 1824, the first committee of "washerwomen" was founded, today known as the Old Beuel Ladies' Committee of 1824. The washerwomen of Beuel came together on "Kühndonnerstag", stopped work and complained about their husbands in moritats and funny rhymes. In the previous year, the men had been delivering the laundry in the newly founded Cologne Carnival and had just made off with the money they had just earned.
This coffee klatch, the "Klaaf", has become established to this day and is continued around Weiberfastnacht as the traditional "Wieversitzung". Gradually, more and more ladies' committees were founded in the individual villages of Beuel.
At that time, Beuel had excellent conditions for the operation of laundries: Located directly on the Rhine with wide meadows on the banks, on which the sun shone in the afternoons during the best dry season. Alongside shipping on the Rhine, washing was the most important industry at the time. More than 200 laundries had plenty of work, as the newly founded Bonn University and the University of Cologne meant that many customers could be found in the area accessible via the Rhine.
Washing was a woman's job, only the delivery was carried out by men. As a result, it was clear early on on the right bank of the Rhine that women could make a significant contribution to society, run businesses successfully and assert their rights with confidence. The word "emancipation" was never uttered, it was lived in the laundries of Beuel.
So it is only understandable that the women did not stand by and watch their husbands' derailments for long and went on strike that day. And because there is no other way in the Rhineland, they didn't whistle and swear - they laughed and sang. So Weiberfastnacht on the Thursday before Rosenmontag is an invention of the Beuel washerwomen.
Many years later, a fixed idea became a tradition that continues to this day: in 1958, a princess was crowned from among the simple washerwomen for the first time - without an accompanying prince, of course. On Weiberfastnacht, the Wäscherprinzessin leads Beuel's foolish goings-on together with the Obermöhn and, like any "proper" royalty, storms the town hall to symbolically take over the regency. The Washer Princess in this anniversary year, Sabrina I, comes from the Old Beuel Ladies' Committee, which is also celebrating its 200th anniversary.
