On Friday morning at 11:11am precisely, Germans across the Rhineland lost their collective minds with the start of the carnival season after two years of Covid-enforced abstinence.
In an explosion of colourful costumes and questionable singalong songs, the so-called “fifth season” kicked off with parades in traditionally Catholic areas throughout the Rhineland region from Mainz and Düsseldorf to Aachen and Cologne.
“It’s just so great to be among people again, it’s about time,” said Klaudia, a local woman dressed as Cruella de Vil.
Cologne is celebrating its 200th anniversary as carnival ground zero with about 50,000 costumed Jecke or clowns out in force in a mild 14 degrees for mid-November.
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On Friday afternoon Cologne mayor Henriette Reker picked her way through the streets, filled with puddles of urine and vomit, to deliver her welcome address.
“You can find this pretty or not but everyone celebrates in their own way,” she said. “The nice thing about the Cologne carnival is it shows that we stand together. It doesn’t matter where you come from or your family background, everyone is welcome.”
In advance of her address the mayor hosted a visiting delegation from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first cases of Covid-19 were reported.
Carnival’s roots lie in the fourth century and, historically, is seen as the last chance for a blowout before the pre-Easter period of Lent.
Cologne’s upper classes brought the Venetian tradition to their city in 1822 and the start-time of 11:11am on 11/11 is seen a celebration of the number 11, lodged between the 10 commandments and 12 apostles, was once seen as a sinful number of excess.
After two cancellations because of pandemic restrictions, the party mood in Cologne peaked so early on Friday that police were forced to intervene at lunchtime.
As crowds surged into the narrow streets of the old town, police officers closed entryways and ordered the suspension of local and long-distance traffic to and from the adjacent central station.
With memories of the recent Hallowe’en crowd crush in Seoul, some 1,600 police officers and private security employees were on high alert throughout Cologne for the day.
Many locals in Cologne were critical of the crowd management, which saw heavy-drinking revellers stream through the rest of the city leaving a trail of rubbish. “The question here is how many more can fit in,” said Klaus Adrian, a local.
The carnival season continues until Shrove Tuesday, with large parades throughout the Rhineland and as far south and west as Mainz and Trier.
