At last, I'm finishing up a recap of Karneval! Since J and I didn't go to any parties or bars (they were packed, wall-to-wall humans in costume every night), the highlight of Karneval for us was the parades. We went to 4 parades in 5 days, 2 smaller local parades and 2 huge parades. Rosenmontagszug (literally, the Rose Monday's Train) is (surprise!) on the Monday before Ash Wednesday. This is the biggest, craziest parade of Karneval--it's estimated that over 1 million people show up for it each year!
We secured our spot an hour early; we found this great concrete planter that I could stand on to see over people's heads. People of all ages in costume were stacked 5 deep in front of us, and there were people hanging out of windows all down the street.
The parade started out with homemade floats, then the floats got progressively more elaborate. Each group was numbered (ah, Germany) and often included several subgroups. The floats ranged from silly to symbolic to overtly political. Here are some of my favorites (click the pics for larger versions):
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the guy in front is pedaling the wagon.
the things Germans will do for a sausage...!
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ingenious plan to catch as much candy as possible!
and, worry not, the Brazilian lady was wearing a top |
As the floats go by, you yell "Kamelle!" and "StrΓΌssche!" to try to get them to throw candy and flowers to you. A rather aggressive (and very tall) clown stood next to me and snatched candy out of the air while his wife scuttled around underfoot picking up as much as she could. (If you look carefully at the pictures, you will see a hand or thumb in several thanks to Herr Clown.) I guess parades bring out the kid in everyone.
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| the guys in orange are from Nippes! |
Despite standing back from the front, Jeremy and I didn't fare too badly, though:
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i love that the groups personalize the wrappers!
some of them are really beautifully designed |
Look for one last Karneval post all about costumes!
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