Köln is not only famous for its mighty
Dom Cathedral but also for its yearly carnival,
Kölner Karneval (or
Cologne Carnival in english), which counts to one of the largest in the world, with around 1.5 million people visiting the city for the festivities. The main celebrations takes place on the first carnival day on 11/11 at 11:11:11 AM in November and the last 6 days before the
Lent (the fast). The Lent is a Christian fasting period before Eastern. It is a period when Christian believers commit to fasting, i.e. they either eat much less (~half a portion a day) or they abstain some foods (usually meat), and does so during ~7 weeks before Easter. As the day of celebration of Eastern depends on the movement of the moon, the day is different from year to year and thus the last 6 days of the carnival. The carnival ends as the Lent begins which begins at
Ash Wednesday. So the last 6 celebration days occurs at the same weekdays every year.
The carnival highlights are the 11 of November (the opening day), the Weiberfastnacht (Fat Thursday (6 days before Ash Wednesday)) and Rosenmontag (Rose Monday (2 days before Ash Wednesday)).
The age of the carnival is not exactly known but probably it is as old as the Köln itself, more than 2,000 years old. As can be understood after reading the above, the carnival celebrations is not an original Christian celebration as it is older than christianity itself. It is known that the Romans celebrated spring in greatfullness to their gods with wine and songs (the Romans founded Köln). After the fall of the Romans the
Germanic people took over Köln and also conducted large celebrations in the spring in greatfullness for their gods. Later Christianity overtook the celebrations. The first written record of the carnival is in 1296.
The festivities takes place in the whole German
Rhine region, with the carnival in Köln being the largest. However the cities Aachen, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Eschweiler, Koblenz, Mainz and Neuss also conduct large celebrations.
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| The carnival train passing by the Kölner Dom |
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| People usually meet up and eat breakfast togheter on Weiberfastnacht and Rosenmontag. |
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| As mentioned the Weiberfastnacht and Rosenmontag is the carnival days which traditionally starts with a breakfast. On the picture (to the left) you can see the traditional German breakfast "Mett". It is essentially raw minced pork on a "Brötchen" (small loaf of bread), it actually tastes very good. Of course the local bear Kölsch is consumed too. |
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| On the last day of the carnival, on Tuesday, the carnival parade passes through the suburbs. |
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| Even though it was bad weather the parade kept a good mood by singing and throwing sweets to the children. |
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| Me and some carnival friends. For my first carnival I went like a Pilot. |
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| On Rosenmontag the traditional Karnevalszüge (Carnival trains) passes through the central parts of town. Usually they are decorated with politicians and other leaders. |
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| One who follows Bundesliga may have noticed that the home kits changes slightly for the teams at the Rhein in the middle of the season, this is due to the carnival. Here is the Home- and Carnival Kit for FC Köln and FSV Mainz respectively, these kits are usually only used during the carnival period. |
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| Some more of the carnival trains |
