Hey, there, friends! Carnival time is here! And today is a highlight of German Carnival season – it is Rosenmontag! Unfortunately this year due to pandemic, the Carnival is not celebrated with the same proportions as before. Especially here in Cologne. This year you can only see some small groups of two people in costumes walking outside with some music playing on their phones. At least that happened near my apartment. Completely different feeling from last years, right? When thousands of people would come out to the streets to meet the parade. People wearing different costumes and throwing candies and other delights at people. Good old times. Hopefully next year we will be able to fully enjoy this great holiday! Today, I want to tell you about this holiday! So what is the Carnival all about?

The Carnival season in Germany starts on 11.11 at 11:11 o’clock! But it is not exclusive to Germany, Carnival is celebrated in many other German speaking countries like Austria, Switzerland and Belgium. In Germany, the biggest celebrations are held in Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf and Aachen. The highlight of the Carnival season is Rosenmontag (Rose Monday). This year it is 15th of February. Usually during this day the huge parade is taking place in big cities with processions of floats and fancy dressed people. Sweets and candies (Kamelle) are being thrown to people from the floats. You can hear people screaming “Kamelle” again and again demanding more treats.

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Another thing you can hear during the Carnival days is “Alaaf”, which means “above all else”! In Cologne you can hear another version though – “Kölle Alaaf” – “Köln über alles” (“Köln above all”). This is typical saying during the Carnival. I have been to the Carnival only twice – once in Cologne with my mom and friends, and another time in Bonn with my friend. It was simply amazing. Back in Ukraine there is nothing similar to Carnival and it was so impressive to see all those procession of people in beautiful costumes and all those amazingly decorated floats!

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Although due to Coronavirus pandemic there was no celebration this year, I have still, in good old tradition, did the make up and dressed up for a small office online celebration in my office, which was also super fun! I hope you enjoyed the post and let’s cheer to the Carnival!