Karneval is much like Mardi Gras; it is the events before Ash Wednesday where everyone is free to be crazy. It is also much like Halloween; it is full of costumes and candy. Karneval actually starts on the 11th day of the 11th month but the "crazy days" are the final six days before Ash Wednesday. The biggest parades in Germany are held on Rosenmontag in Cologne, Duesseldorf, and Mainz. Annika and I took a train to Cologne early Sunday morning and arrived just in time for the first parade. It is a small parade in which mostly kids from clubs in the area march. When I say small, it was small in comparison to the parade on Monday; it was still at least 3 hours long. As everyone is in costume, Annika and I dressed as well. Annika was an angel and I was a cat. It is tradition to throw candy into the air, whether you are a marcher or on a float. It is also tradition to throw single, wrapped flowers. The two new words that I learned were "Karmelle" and "Strueßje"; they are Kolsch dialect for candy and flowers. We collected a H&M bag full of candy and several dozen flowers between the two parades. After enjoying the parade, we grabbed a bite to eat in Cologne before taking a train to Duesseldorf, where we had planned to spend the night at Annika's cousin's place. It was a nice evening and I was so tired that I fell asleep on the couch while Annika and Johan watched the movie W, in German of course. The next morning we woke bright and early, actually it was raining so it was just early. We hopped on a train and were back in Cologne just past 9 o'clock in the morning. We walked towards the beginning of the parade route to find a place to stand and wait. It was well worth the wait as I am quite small. I spent nearly three hours in the first row of people. After we decided to move, I realized we were in the first row of about 30 rows! I was even more pleased with the long cold wait! We walked around to watch the parade from other locations. Just to give you an idea of how big it is: the parade route is 6.5 kilometers long; it takes at least four hours to complete the route' the entire parade is 7 kilometes long (therefore when the parade reaches the spectators at the end of the route, the parade is just winding down at the beginning); 150 tons of sweets were thrown; 300,000 flowers were distributed; and over one million people showed up to attend the events. I am glad I was a part of it!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Karneval
Karneval is much like Mardi Gras; it is the events before Ash Wednesday where everyone is free to be crazy. It is also much like Halloween; it is full of costumes and candy. Karneval actually starts on the 11th day of the 11th month but the "crazy days" are the final six days before Ash Wednesday. The biggest parades in Germany are held on Rosenmontag in Cologne, Duesseldorf, and Mainz. Annika and I took a train to Cologne early Sunday morning and arrived just in time for the first parade. It is a small parade in which mostly kids from clubs in the area march. When I say small, it was small in comparison to the parade on Monday; it was still at least 3 hours long. As everyone is in costume, Annika and I dressed as well. Annika was an angel and I was a cat. It is tradition to throw candy into the air, whether you are a marcher or on a float. It is also tradition to throw single, wrapped flowers. The two new words that I learned were "Karmelle" and "Strueßje"; they are Kolsch dialect for candy and flowers. We collected a H&M bag full of candy and several dozen flowers between the two parades. After enjoying the parade, we grabbed a bite to eat in Cologne before taking a train to Duesseldorf, where we had planned to spend the night at Annika's cousin's place. It was a nice evening and I was so tired that I fell asleep on the couch while Annika and Johan watched the movie W, in German of course. The next morning we woke bright and early, actually it was raining so it was just early. We hopped on a train and were back in Cologne just past 9 o'clock in the morning. We walked towards the beginning of the parade route to find a place to stand and wait. It was well worth the wait as I am quite small. I spent nearly three hours in the first row of people. After we decided to move, I realized we were in the first row of about 30 rows! I was even more pleased with the long cold wait! We walked around to watch the parade from other locations. Just to give you an idea of how big it is: the parade route is 6.5 kilometers long; it takes at least four hours to complete the route' the entire parade is 7 kilometes long (therefore when the parade reaches the spectators at the end of the route, the parade is just winding down at the beginning); 150 tons of sweets were thrown; 300,000 flowers were distributed; and over one million people showed up to attend the events. I am glad I was a part of it!
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