An endearing and beautiful tradition continued this year on the Day of the Three Wise Men: The group of pre-school children from St Michael's day care centre visited Homburg Town Hall as carol singers on this Tuesday. As in previous years, their visit not only brought the city administration best wishes for a blessed year, but also brought smiles to the faces of employees and visitors to the town hall.
Mayor Manfred Rippel, Alderman Philipp Scheidweiler and District Administrator Frank John welcomed the little guests from the immediate neighbourhood, who were dressed in stars, crowns and, in some cases, robes, in the foyer of the town hall. There the children, accompanied by nursery teachers Nancy Ried, Melanie Roth and Tanja Sonntag as well as pastoral counsellor Stefan Pappon, first sang the song "Star over Bethlehem" and recited a poem.
The heads of administration were delighted with the lively tradition and praised the children and teachers for the youngsters' efforts as carol singers and for the beautiful singing and poem recital. They also made sure that the carol singers had not brought their donation box for nothing.
This year, the carol singers are primarily collecting money against child labour so that children, for example in Bangladesh, can go to school instead of to a factory, explained Stefan Pappon.
"It's so nice that you came to the town hall today and brought the message and the Three Wise Men," said Mayor Rippel and Councillor Scheidweiler. They then invited the children to enjoy a delicious New Year's pretzel and rounded off the pre-school children's visit to the town hall with a brief tour of the anteroom and the mayor's office. The heads of administration also talked to the children about their daycare centre and their upcoming school days from this summer. All the carol singers also received a small treat from the district administrator.
As part of the visit, the sticker with the traditional house blessing and the message "20*C+M+B+26" - "Christus mansionem benedicat" - "Christ bless this house" - above the door to the mayor's office was also renewed.
Text/source: Jürgen Kruthoff / Homburg town council