🦉 In short: Schlaraffia is a worldwide fellowship of men who meet regularly to laugh together, to enjoy art and to keep real friendships. It can hardly be explained — but it can be experienced.
A world apart from everyday life
Picture an evening on which the pressure of working life stays outside the door. Where titles and professions count for nothing. Where a doctor, a craftsman, a teacher and an artist laugh together, play together and become friends. That is Schlaraffia.
The name comes from the Low German word ‘Sluraffe’, a mediaeval term for a quiet connoisseur. Schlaraffia is a place where friendship is kept up and the gravity of life may be forgotten for an evening. Small wonder that the motto runs: „In arte voluptas“ — in art lies delight.
How does the Schlaraffen game work?
The members of a Schlaraffia — called Schlaraffen — meet regularly for a Sippung. The room they meet in is the Burg, and the local chapter is called a Reych.
Every Sippung follows a set, playful order: the welcome by the Fungierender (a kind of master of ceremonies), talks, singing, humorous turns, contests of wit and finally the shared close of the evening. All of it is play — and all of it is taken with a wink.
What is a „Pilger“? That is what a newcomer is called who is there for the first time. Whoever comes more than three times may be accepted as a Pruefling and so declare an interest in membership. Acceptance into the fellowship follows after further visits.
Who is Schlaraffia for?
Schlaraffia is for men who have stayed curious. Who do not need to explain everything. Who understand humour — and can laugh at themselves now and then. Who prefer a real conversation to shallow networking. Who enjoy art and have something to contribute themselves — a poem, a song, a speech, or simply a hearty laugh.
Schlaraffen are individualists. Academics and craftsmen. Young and old. What they share is a sense of humour, a delight in play and a longing for real human company — far from the telephone and the pressure of the diary.
🌍 At home worldwide
What began in 1859 as a small circle of artists in Prague is today a fellowship spanning the globe: more than 200 Reyche on every continent, from Europe through the Americas to Australia. What binds them all: the German language as a common thread and the Schlaraffen game as a common home.
In practice that means: travel to Philadelphia, Vienna, São Paulo or Sydney — and visit a Sippung there. Within minutes you are no longer a stranger but a guest among friends. Schlaraffia makes the world smaller and warmer.
🗣 Why German? Schlaraffia was founded in Prague in 1859, by German-speaking artists and men of letters. German has been the binding language of all Schlaraffen ever since, whatever the nationality of the members.
How do I become a member?
Quite simply: come by. A guest visit is free, without obligation and commits you to nothing at all. You sit in, experience a Sippung, and then decide in your own time whether Schlaraffia is for you. Those interested are warmly welcome — a word beforehand is advisable.
We are glad to show you our game — for Schlaraffia is hard to explain; the game has to be lived. And one comes to know the Schlaraffen game from the ground up over time.
Curious?
Write to us — or simply come by.
The first visits are free and without obligation.
Bei uns im Reych
How it goes here. A Sippung of the Newarka begins on Mondays at seven in the evening and lasts about three and a half hours. We speak German — that belongs to the game and, for a Reych founded in 1890 by German immigrants in New Jersey, it is also a piece of where we come from.
The evening has its form: the entry, the welcome of the Einreiter — visiting Schlaraffen from other Reyche —, then the Fechsungen: talks, verse, music, with the Atzung in between. Every Sippung has a theme; ours run from the Ahallafeyer through the Founding Festival to the Pickelhaube Sippung. What counts is not the perfection of the piece, but that someone contributes something.
For guests. If you are not yet a Sasse and would like to watch once, you are welcome. Let us know beforehand so that we can expect you. You need no special dress — only curiosity, patience with the first strange words, and a willingness to enter a game that is a century and a half old.