When in 1859 the Director of the German Theatre, Frnaz Thomé (1807 – 1872), wanted to introduce a young artist, the bass singer Albert Eilers (1830 – 1896), to the artist association ‘Arcadia’, he would not be accepted because he was not a man of means. In protest Eilers and his artist colleagues founded a ‘Stammtisch’, a group of likeminded people meeting on a regular basis, which they mockingly called ‘Proletarier-Club’. Over time and with some detours and setbacks, out of that group the now worldwide active organization Scharaffia® evolved. The symbol of Scharaffia® is the eagle owl (bubo bubo) symbolizing wisdom, virtue und humor (the owl itself represents wisdom and knowledge).

In Germany in the year 1865 a Scharaffia® chapter was founded in Berlin and in 1872 another one in Leipzig. Those two got together and created the first set of by-laws and then spread quickly all over Germany. In 1874 the first edition of the club’s publication ‘Der Scharaffia® Zeytungen’ was distributed.

The Schlaraffen meet in the so called ‘Winterung’, the time from the beginning of October to the end of April in the northern hemisphere and in the southern hemspere from the beginning of May the end of October, weekly on a certain day of the week in their ‘Schlaraffen Burg’ (Schlaraffen Castle), which is set like an old Knight’s Hall. These meetings, called ‘Sippungen’, are held in two parts, each with a special ceremonial frame of Knight’s Games. The first part is well thought through ceremony to open the evening, to greet any visitors and to attend to any business the group has, like letters or messages coming in from other members or groups, the minutes of the last meeting, and so on. The second part is more freely with contributions of the members to a certain theme of the evening or something of interest or to entertain the others. 

Throughout the Sipping the Schlaraffen wear head gear according to their rank, a cap for the pages and squires, and helmets for the knights, all made from fabric in the colors of the chapter. The weapons like squire’s dagger and the knight’s sword are usually made from wood. During the Sippungen the Schlaraffen persiflage the everyday life as well as recite writings in rime or prose or present musical and other artistic pieces they created or found in literature. In adition they use some antiquated language, ‘Schlaraffen Latein’, to describe everyday items like ‘gasoline horse’ for a car or ‘castle monster’ for mother in law. All that gives the proceedings of the evening humorous note to distance the time in the castle from everyday life.

The symbol for humor, wisdom and virtue of Schlaraffia is the ‘Uhu’, the eagle owl (bubo bubo), of which there are usually several pieces in various materials in each castle, one of them close to the entrance. When entering the castle, a Schlaraffe greets the ‘Uhu’ with a nod and symbolically leaves all things from the outside world at the door. Discussions of political, religious or business nature are not tolerated in the castle to ensure that friendship, art and humor are not compromised.

Even though Schlaraffia is in the most locations a lesser known group, some of them have or sponsor public events like concerts, recitations in a theater or other literary events.