A Krazy Karneval

Over the end of February and the first weekend of March was Karneval, a holiday celebrated by Christians across the world before the sacrificial period of Lent. Cologne, being a historically Catholic city, has one of the largest Karneval celebrations in the world, where you will find seas of people dressed up in colorful costumes, throwing out candy in parades, and singing German Karneval songs. The celebration lasted from Thursday (Feb 27) and culminated on Monday, the largest day of the festival, also known as Rosenmontag (rose Monday).

Side note- I was also told by my program leader that me and my friend Jonah had the best costumes in the program this year, he was Ratatouille and I was the Chef, and naturally he would sit on my shoulders as much as I could hold him for during the parades to truly bring out the best of our costumes.

Our program here in Bonn participated in one of these parades in Bonn, where we walked along for maybe an hour to an hour and a half, tossing candy to the hordes of people of all ages that were lined up on the edge of the street. What is hard to express in words about Karneval was the sense of unification that I felt from it; it really was a time where people, no matter who they were, all ages, races, and religions, were all coming together to join in on this massive celebration. This was hyped up for me by my host family who were also going to parades and parties every day and night of the festival. Additionally, costumes in Karneval have a tradition of making jokes about current politics and events, and I got to see several that were poking fun at some American politicians.

After the parade in Bonn, we went to visit Cologne several times that weekend, and it was more packed than I could imagine, truly testing the limits of the German transportation system. We would get on a train in Cologne, packed to the point where we physically felt that we couldn’t move at all, and then every stop somehow more people would get on, shoving us further into the sardine can that was the train cabin. This would also be the case for the few shops and kiosks that would be open, meaning we would have to wait in unimaginable lines at some points. Additionally, on the biggest day, Rosenmontag, we had classes in Bonn, and trying to get to class with the number of people was a nightmare, all of the parades and people in the city center forced me to take a 25 minute detour to make it to class.

Despite my few grievances, I’m grateful that I got to experience this celebration here in Germany. As my host mother put it, it was a time where the German people really got to “let loose and be free,” breaking the mold of the strict and rigid culture that Germany is often known for.

-Seamus Barnes

Arzbaecher, M., & Arzbaecher, M. (2024, February 9). Ultimate guide to Germany’s best festival: Carnival in Cologne – Ausländer. Ausländer – An Expat’s Guide to Germany. https://auslanderblog.com/cologne-carnival-ultimate-guide/#:~:text=Karneval%20as%20we%20understand%20it,the%20Prussian%20occupation%20of%20Cologne.