German Carnival
One of the most famous
traditional festivals in Germany is the Oktoberfest. People from all over the
world travel to Munich to celebrate the Bavarian lifestyle. The focus is on
drinking beer and wearing leather trousers.
Do you think that there is
something crazier? Something that is different? Something you do not expect?
Yes there is something!
The main place for this festival is in Cologne and it is called
Carnival!
There are some historical reasons
for this celebration.
One reason is the beginning of the Catholic fasting period. The first
day is the so called “Ash Wednesday”.
The days before, the faithful people start a big celebration to consume
all the things they were not allowed to eat during the religious fasting
period. Another point is that the people tried to scare the ghosts of the
winter. They wore ugly costumes to get them out of the city.
Another origin theory comes from the old Romans. For one day in the year it was
the day of the slaves. The rich and mighty changed with the poor. Slaves got
served by the aristocrats…
During the time the old traditions mixed up and it developed to a big
crazy party where people dress up like different characters (e.g. cowboys,
princes, aliens)
Some examples:
The most important day for the people in this period is “Rosenmontag”. In different cities in
Germany there are big parades where people meet each other to have fun.
Colorful wagons are driving through the streets!
The people who are part of
the parade throw a lot of candy into the crowd. Also political satire is a
topic as you can see in the last picture:
Some of the cities have
their own carnival club and every club has got a leader. The leader changes
every year. He is called the prince.
In Cologne they have three leaders (Virgin, Prince and the Farmer):
(and yes, every year
the virgin is a man but even the Pope does not care about this fact):
Moreover the most carnival clubs have special dancing
groups. They have a dance style called “Gardetanz”.
The costumes are nearly the
same in all of the clubs.
Maybe you ask
yourself the question why I chose this topic.
It is easy to answer
because I am also a member of a Carnival Club called “Warendorfer Karnevalsgesellschaft”.
It is a small one. Things work like in Cologne but everything is a little bit
smaller…
We also have a prince. This year it is Prince Gerd:
During the period
that starts on 11 November we have nearly 200 appointments in and around our
city.
In the middle of the
week we travel to retirement homes and we visit different pre-schools to bring
some good mood to the people. It is always a good feeling to see all the
smiling children. For the old people it is a good diversion.
At the weekend it is
party time and we have a lot of big events. Sometimes we are just guests and
visit other clubs. Sometimes we make the party by ourselves.
When we have an
appointment we are always on stage.
We sing with the people and our “dance teams” make some dance moves.
In my hometown
Warendorf we also have a “Rosenmontagszug”:
In our club we have different smaller groups with
members of all ages. Here you can see some:
(Senat)
organizing the most important things
(Elferrat)
(Prinzengarde) Always together with the prince
(the old princes)
Bambinos (age 4 – 6 years)
Hüpfer (age 6 - 10 years)
Flöckchen (age 10 – 16 years)
Das große
WaKaGe Ballett (age 16 - …)
Juka 441
Now you should know what to do when you plan to visit
Germany. Visit a Carnival party and you will forget the Oktoberfest easily...
