Spritzer

The Group of the Spritzer figures play an important part in keeping order during the procession. Like the Sackner, they’re not one singular group, but vary between three types of characters. Their one common element is the meter-long syringe filled with water. Rowdy spectators are driven back onto the pavement by the streams of water the syringes fire. Pretzels are stacked on the metal sprayer and are given out to children, acquaintances or the “victims” that took particularly hard hits. The reloading of the syringes in the countless wells of Imst is always a special sight to behold. These are the three types of Spritzer:

The Altfrankspritzer

One of the costumes worn the most in the Fasnacht is the Altfrank. He wears the tailcoat of a wealthy Frenchman in the baroque-age. The look is completed by a wig with a long braid, a trident hat adorned with the feather of an ostrich and a lacey jabot or a satin scarf – in short; an elegant man.

The Mohrenspritzer

He could be an African duke or a character in a Christmas play, wearing a deep black mask with red lips, a silken cape with a pelted hem and a long, curled wig made of the mane of a horse. A multitude of golden jewelry as well as a crown with large feathers reinforces the royal look he has about him. The exotic coloring and his unique appearance was not only intriguing to the royalty in times of the absolutist era, where “Hofmohren” were kept, but apparently also to the citizens of Imst, which granted him a role in the Fasnacht in Imst he has to this day.

Der Engelspritzer

The Mohrenspritzer’s counterpart is the Engelspritzer, whose origins are speculated to be from Christmas- and Advent plays. While they are both luxuriously dressed and adorned with an abundance of jewelry, the “angel” is the opposite of his complementary figure; he’s dressed in bright colors such as yellow, blue or pastel pink. There can only be 5 Mohrenspritzer and 3 Engelspritzer in each Fasnacht.