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Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier signs his name in the golden book of the city of Bremen.
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
Actually, guests are only allowed to take part in the Bremer Schaffermahlzeit once in their lives.
An exception applies to the head of state.
Bremen - As guest of honor at the Bremen Schaffermahlzeit, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier reminded everyone of the responsibility for freedom and democracy.
“We have to work for our free community, we all have to get involved and be prepared to take on responsibility,” appealed the head of state on Friday evening in the Bremen town hall.
The Schaffermahlzeit dates back to 1545 and is considered one of the oldest brotherly or friendship meals in the world.
“You can certainly see straight away that we are not a collection of freedom fighters here today,” said Steinmeier.
Tailcoat and evening dress are an unusual wardrobe for this.
“But you and I know: The threatened democracy concerns all of us, you who trade, who are connected worldwide, not just through shipping;
who want to manufacture and sell products;
who in their business also live from the fact that things are fair and that freedom prevails.”
Steinmeier was already present at the Schaffermahlzeit in 2016 as Foreign Minister.
Each guest is actually only allowed to take part in the traditional meal once - exceptions apply to the mayor of Bremen and the Federal President.
“If a one-time invitation is a special honor, an offer you can’t refuse, so to speak, then the second one, which is actually not planned at all, is even more so,” said Steinmeier.
It is a festival that “reaches back into the depths of time like no other in Germany.”
According to the country, the Schaffermahlzeit is the oldest, annual friendship meal in the world.
The tradition symbolizes the connection between seafaring and merchants.
Around 300 people are invited to the ceremony, which lasts five hours and is meticulously planned: from serving the six courses to giving twelve speeches to collecting donations for the Haus Seefahrt Foundation, which supports sailors and nautical students.
The menu has hardly changed over the past centuries: chicken soup, cod, brown cabbage, roast veal and Riga butt.
Seafaring beer is drunk from silver tankards - a special brown beer that is brewed exclusively for the Schaffer meal.
The meal is organized and paid for by three selected Bremen merchants, the so-called Schaffers.
This year, Philip Herwig, Heidi Armbruster-Domeyer and Jan-Oliver Buhlmann organized the festival.
Protests surrounding the Schaffermahlzeit have almost become a tradition.
On Friday, farmers demonstrated peacefully near the town hall.
They called for closer cooperation between the government, associations and agriculture.
The farmers also want to ensure that agricultural diesel is further subsidized.
dpa