Karneval - A Tale of Celebrations in Two Cities

Karneval is a yearly celebration that begins on November 11 and lasts until the beginning of lent on Ash Wednesday. It is celebrated around the world (in Venice, Brazil, Louisiana - as Mardi Gras, etc.), but the primary celebration in Germany takes place right here in the Northrhein Westfalia area - the two primary cities of celebration being Cologne and Duesseldorf. Although Karneval lasts for a few months, the biggest celebration days are the Thursday before Ash Wednesday which is known as "Weibefastnacht" or "Women's Karneval" and "Rosenmontag" or "Rose Monday" .

On Weibefastnacht women (and men) don their costumes and go out for a night (and day) on the town filled with drinking, dancing, eating, and merriment. Wearing costumes and being merry tends to be the general theme of Karneval celebrations, but the difference is that traditionally this day also involves the take-over of town hall by all the women. Women also traditionally cut off the ties and shoelaces of men as a sign of usurping power. Typically when a woman cuts off a mans tie or shoelaces she is then supposed to give the man a kiss on the cheek. I decided that I would prefer to watch people cut off ties rather than attempt to do so myself - being as this was my first Karneval I thought it best not to anger someone. Sadly, the only tie cutting I witnessed, however, was later in the evening when my friend Karin cut off the tie of Tim another Fulbright TA who had joined us for the evening - it was a tame reenactment (pictured above).
For Weibefastnacht, my friends and I headed to Duesseldorf (which is only about 20 minutes away). The sight was one of complete and utter chaos - broken glass and garbage all over the ground and thousands of people dressed up and roaming around the old downtown. We spent some time outside enjoying some beers (no open container laws in Germany) and some french fries, but due to the cold decided we should attempt to make it in to a bar. We made it in to one bar and spent some time dancing there before we decided to try to find something new. Finally, we had a stroke of luck and ended up at a typical German brewery where the Karneval royalty/jury was celebrating. Every year a Karneval prince and princess are elected and we were fortunate enough to meet a nice old German man (pictured in the first picture on the right) who was the brother of the prince and who also owned a bakery. This nice man allowed us to share the table with the rest of the jury/royalty and he explained the traditions to us, gave us delicious baked goods, and overall made the night quite enjoyable and filled with more typical German culture. We were also invited to stop by the bakery in Duesseldorf whenever we want to and I'm sure we will be venturing there at some point or another. Overall this Weibefastnacht experience in Duesseldorf was an excellent beginning for Karneval celebrating.
Not wanting to overdo it, we decided to lay low the rest of the weekend and save up energy for the Rosenmontag celebration in Cologne on Monday. On Monday we left bright and early to take the train to Cologne. The trains were packed with people in costumes (despite the addition of other trains to the schedule) and beers in hands (yes even before 10 a.m.). I had been warned by family friends that live in Cologne that I would need to arrive early if I wanted to have any chance of seeing the Zug (parade). So my friend Lena and I (dressed as bees - same as we were on Thursday) and Karin (dressed as Bob Marley) headed to the parade route to find a place to see. It was pouring rain, but with all the excitement in the air that didn't bother us. We were incredibly lucky to find spots near the Dom (cathedral) where we could see and enjoy the parade. Although it was a few hours before the parade was to start, we decided it would be best to hold onto our spots. While we were waiting for the parade, we were able to admire the costumes of people - both those in large groups and individuals. There was also Karneval music playing that we were able to sing along with as we drank our beers. Virtually everybody dresses up for Karneval and they get into the spirit with incredibly elaborate costumes. Most people we saw were wearing face paint as well as full body costumes - it made our yellow and black layered shirts, yellow shoes, and bee antennae seem pathetic (probably not aided by the fact that as the antennae got wetter and wetter from the rain they began to droop).
Finally the parade began, and it was an amazing spectacle. Much different than most parades you see in the U.S. First of all, the Karneval parade lasted over 4 hours and involved continuous streams of elaborately dressed up people as well as very entertaining floats. Every group that came buy - whether walking or on floats or trucks had flowers and candy in hand. And by candy in hand I must clarify that I don't mean just little tootsie rolls or lollipops but rather full boxes of truffles, toblerone bars, gummi bears, etc. These goodies are chucked into the crowd without any restraint - which could be incredibly dangerous if you weren't paying attention. Despite the thousands of people that were present we still all managed to take home lots of candy and some flowers. Its interesting to think that a lot of the people will give up things like sweets for lent which means they probably either had to scarf down tons of candy in two days (by Wednesday) or save it for Easter. The flowers are not simply thrown, but often men in the parade will walk up to ladies in the crowd hand them a flower and then turn their head to receive a kiss on the cheek.
We had originally planned on celebrating into the night, however, after standing out in the rainy cold we decided that the parade alone was enough celebrating. Overall it was an amazing adventure and I think I will miss Karneval tremendously when I am back in the states. Enjoy the photos!