German Carnival!

                        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 - …)

And finally the best group (my group…)

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...