The tradition of white handkerchiefs at Aachen's equestrian championships, in which more than 40,000 spectators wave them from the stands during the closing ceremony to bid farewell to competing riders, began in 1953, the same year Spain won the Nations Cup at the German venue.
How the tradition started
The custom began spontaneously. The stadium announcer at the time, lawyer Dr. Kurt Sonanini, asked the crowd to take out their handkerchiefs and wave them while participants completed their lap of honour. The gesture proved so popular that it was repeated at following editions and eventually became a fixture of the event.
The handkerchiefs are waved to the tune of "Muss i denn zum Städtele hinaus," a popular German song about a farewell and the intention to return. The melody is linked to the musical tradition of Württemberg and was spread during the 19th century by German composer Friedrich Silcher. Its meaning fit naturally with the Aachen ceremony, in which participants say goodbye to the crowd and spectators respond from the stands with their handkerchiefs, signalling their hope to meet again at the next edition.
The organisers still hold the ceremony under the name Abschied der Nationen, which translates as Farewell of the Nations, and it continues to close every edition of the CHIO Aachen and, more recently, the World Championships.
A tune that travelled beyond Germany
The melody behind the ceremony also became known outside Germany. In 1960, Elvis Presley popularised "Wooden Heart," based on "Muss i denn," after performing it in the film G.I. Blues. The song became a major international hit, though in Aachen the tune has kept the meaning it acquired within the competition long before.
Spain's 1953 Nations Cup win
In 1953, the same year the handkerchief-waving began, Spain won the Aachen Nations Cup. The Spanish team was led by Colonel Pablo Montoya Gaviria and made up of Joaquín Nogueras Márquez riding Frisar, Manuel Ordovás González riding Bohemio, Ángel Alonso Martín riding Brise Brise, and Francisco Goyoaga Caamaño, one of the most prominent riders in Spanish show jumping history, riding Baden.
Goyoaga was crowned individual show jumping world champion that same year in Paris riding Quorum, becoming the first Spaniard to win a world title in the discipline.
The team's victory was the first of three Nations Cup wins for Spain at the German show. The Spanish team won again the following year and secured a third victory in 1958.
The tradition today
At the recent FEI World Championships held in Aachen, the scene repeated itself at the close of the event, a tradition now 73 years old with a little-known detail behind it: the first time Aachen filled with white handkerchiefs came shortly after Spain's victory there.
