Carnival along the Rhine and Main rivers, in Mainz, Cologne & Duesseldorf

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Darmstadt-Dieburg Karneval

all photographs from the - highly recommended - Darmstadt-Dieburg carneval

Carnival along the rivers Rhine and Main, in Basel and Strasbourg, in Bavaria

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Carnival, Karneval, Fasnacht, Fasching

In the Catholic parts of Germany along the Rhine, carnival is a highly organized parallel universe, created by a combination of rotary and local mafia, the carnival associations.

Speeches have to be written, songs composed. There have to be flags.

carnival in Dieburg

There have to be uniforms.

carnival in Dieburg

Dissidents need uniforms, too.

carnival in Dieburg

Practice is needed for dances and marches.

carnival in Dieburg

The themes of the floats have to be agreed on and built. The highly competitive floats, speeches and comedy acts of Mainz, Cologne and Dusseldorf vie for fame and television time. Expect drastic caricatures and mainstream satire. Let your hair down and forget about political correctness for a few days.

There are no kings and queens, but guards, princes and princesses. Sessions are highly ritualized events, obsessed with procedure and the code number 11 - meaning equality. There is a kickoff on November 11, 11:11, sessions are presided by a council of 11.

After november's kickoff, carnival is held up by Christmas, slowly gaining speed through January to heat up in February on Fat Thursday when revelers claim the mayor's keys and ladies cut men's ties, Saturday when people dress up and party in pubs and streets, Sunday, Shrove Monday and Shrove Tuesday when the floats fill the streets.

In Bavaria "Karneval" is called "Fasching" and is a mix of ancient rustic attempts to chase away the ghosts of winter with a stylish ballroom season in former residential cities like Munich.

Carnival allows people to dress up in otherwise socially unacceptable ways. However, you are strongly advised to avoid misunderstandings when you enter the branch of a bank or are invited to a "Lumpenball", where people dress up as mugs and bums.

On Ash Wednesday politicians reclaim the stage in a ritual attack of their opponents and city keys are returned to the mayors. Catholic priests set the atmosphere for Lent by reminding people that they are made of dust and will return to dust. Carnival revelers catch up on sleep. The police publicize a sigh of relief.

To make sure nobody gets depressed, Bavarian monks brew their beer extra strong. During Lent, the restaurants of the monasteries serve delicious fish and pastry, whilst red meat is reserved for Sundays.

Or you prolong the party: In the German cities along the Rhine, in Bavaria, in Venice, in New Orleans or in Rio Ash Wednesday is counted 6 weeks before Easter allowing for a 40 day's fast, not counting Sunday. In Protestant Basel the - older - count of the fast includes Sundays, so Basel "Fasnacht" starts six days later. In Alsace and Strasburg carnival continues even longer.

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