The Institute of Cultural Anthropology and European Ethnology organizes a yearly party, Klunkerfest, at the end of each summer teaching period. Klunkerfest is the big graduation party of the institute for bachelor, master, and PhD graduates. It involves an official graduation ceremony in the Goethe University Westend Campus and is traditionally followed by a party organized by the institute's students for the graduates open for all members of the, new and old, institute to join.
The Klunkerfest, which we celebrate once a year, is an "invented tradition" dating back to 1986, a ritual that defines the identity of our institute. At that time, Hermann Haindl, a theater painter at the Schauspiel Frankfurt, donated this chandelier to us, which had been discarded from the Städtische Bühnen's collection, along with the crystal baubles hanging from it. The then director of the institute, Ina-Maria Greverus, then invented a ceremony in which the respective thesis supervisors delivered a eulogy to the graduates, and the graduates had to climb a ladder to reach the chandelier suspended high from the ceiling and hang their own "bauble" there—no easy feat, especially at such a late hour! Since then, we have celebrated it once a year! The chandelier grows larger and more colorful every year, carrying the traces of all the students whose ways passed from the Institute of KAEE.
Photos from the Klunkerfest 2025:
