Day 6 – November 11 at 11:11 am
It’s Karneval time! From what I can gather this is a Catholic tradition but is enjoyed by all. It is the start of the party before Lent, ending with Mari Gras the following year. (Do German Catholics know how to party or what?) Most festivities are said to occur after the first of the year but I guess Dusseldorf just can’t wait that long. This time of the year is referred to as the Fifth Season.
There are apparently two variations of the celebration depending on where you live. Here in Dusseldorf we are celebrating the Rhenish way. or Rhineland. This area has been observing the tradition with vigor since the 1820s.
There are bands in the streets.
Beer being served every ten feet it seems on every street in the square. Here in Germany, it seems that you are served beer in a glass with the logo of the company that produces the beer. Pretty cool. At least we know what we are drinking.
I feel a bit underdressed. Most are dressed up in costumes, but with all things German there is an order to the chaos.
The original purpose of Karneval was to give citizens a way to express subversive anti-Prussian and anti-French ideals in times of occupation, through parody and mockery.
Can you tell I copied that line from somewhere else? I changed a few words.
So the choice of costume is of a political figure that has been in the news over the past year (good or bad), military uniforms of all kinds, devils and wild beasts (saw a lot of Winnie the Pooh and his gang walking around) and fools. There are stores dedicated to solely to Karneval costumes. CRAZY!
Sadness, I missed getting a picture of the guy dressed like the Pope and his entourage. But I got pictures of some of the “fools” and military.
We make our way to the Market Platz where there is a stage setup and some sort of singing, dance, dress-up band thing going on. Troops dressed in different colored military uniforms take turn getting up on stage and leading the crowd in song. We aren’t sure what this is all about but its fun.
Here we are in the square, trying to get a picture taken and we get photobombed by some fellow revelers.
We make our way down another street and find this cool little pub with a band playing outside, so of course, we had to stop. I love the copper (what I’m assuming) plaques above the entry.
We are ending our night out in Dusseldorf, Germany, in an Irish pub eating Mexican food. We love this kind of weird stuff.
