Baden-Württemberg: carol singers want to collect donations for children again

They go from door to door and bring the blessing of the church: carol singers also have a tradition in Baden-Württemberg.

Baden-Württemberg: carol singers want to collect donations for children again

They go from door to door and bring the blessing of the church: carol singers also have a tradition in Baden-Württemberg. However, the past two years have been difficult.

Ravensburg/Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) - Tens of thousands of children and young people in Baden-Württemberg want to dress up as carol singers and collect donations for disadvantaged children around the world. As a rule, the boys and girls are out and about around the Epiphany holiday (January 6th). As announced by the Archdiocese of Freiburg and the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, this time the motto of the Epiphany Singing is "Strengthening children, protecting children - in Indonesia and worldwide".

With a service in Ravensburg, the bishop of the Rottenburg-Stuttgart diocese, Gebhard Fürst, sent out the star children of the diocese on Friday. On January 9, Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) will again receive a few groups in Stuttgart.

Disguised as the Three Kings Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, carol singers bring the church blessing "C M B" into the houses. With chalk they write "May Christ bless this house" in the Latin abbreviation "C M B" (Christus mansionem benedicat) on many front doors.

At the beginning of 2021 and 2022, the carol singers were severely restricted due to the pandemic conditions. Meeting people is possible again and important for the boys and girls, said a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Freiburg.

The Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart collected the most donations in 2022. The collection campaign raised 4.24 million euros there, followed by Freiburg with 3.5 million euros. Nationwide it was a total of 38.6 million euros. The motto for 2022 was "Get healthy - stay healthy. A child's right worldwide".

The Dreikönigssingen is organized annually nationwide by the children's missionary work "Die Sternsinger" and the Bund der Deutschen Katholische Jugend. The opening ceremony will take place in Frankfurt am Main this year.