To mark the 25th anniversary of the Mundartring Saar, a dialect evening was held on 19 August at the Homburg Forum. Under the motto “Gradselääds!”, the Saarpfalz district and the Mundartring had issued invitations to the anniversary event. District Administrator Frank John, as patron of the event, opened the evening. Jürgen Trouvain, one of the spokespersons for the Mundartring Saar, then gave an introduction to the dialects of the Saarland. Relinde Niederländer (Kirkel-Limbach), Volker C. Jacoby (St. Ingbert) and Stefan Klopp (Bliesransbach) presented their own works. Texts by Heinrich Kraus (St. Ingbert), Eugen Motsch (Rohrbach) and Günter Hussong (Kirkel). The musical accompaniment was provided by Helga Dier, who performed dialect poems by Peter Stolz (Heckendalheim) to the accompaniment of her guitar.
Thematically, the texts and songs performed covered a wide range of topics: from major events to be navigated, such as Mother’s Day and birthdays, the constant struggle to choose the longest queue at the supermarket checkout, or that feeling of being ‘mied, kabudd un läädisch’, through to life as a schoolmaster, and on to love songs and the desire to have ‘a partner’. It was a varied and entertaining programme enjoyed by the approximately 80 visitors at the Homburg Forum. “Dialects are an expression of regional identity and tradition. It is important that people continue to speak and write in dialect so that these words are not lost to us. The Mundartring makes an important contribution to preserving dialect diversity in the Saarland,” emphasised District Administrator Frank John in his welcoming address. The next stops on the Mundartring’s anniversary tour are Ottweiler, Bosen, Merzig and Saarbrücken.
As an association active throughout the Saarland, the Mundartring Saar brings together numerous writers who compose poems and stories in their Rhine and Moselle Franconian dialects. The texts are published regularly in the quarterly magazine *Mundartpost*. Fifteen years ago, the best texts were published in the anthology “Wäär gaggerd, muss ach lee’e”. In the anniversary year 2026, the anthology – featuring 120 selected texts by 60 authors – is to be titled “Gradselääds!” and is due to be published towards the end of the year.