Germany for Karneval, March 2019

Carnival, Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Karneval – the great debauchery that takes place in the days leading up to Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the 40 days of Lent, the fasting time before Easter. The world’s most famous Carnival is probably that in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but for most Americans it’s Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The reality, though, is Carnival and its variants are celebrated in most Roman Catholic parts of the world. In warm places like Rio, Trinidad, Baranquilla, New Orleans, etc Carnival is a very multi-cultural celebration with lots of flashy costumes, dancing, and flesh shown. In northwestern Europe, though, like Belgium, Germany’s Rhineland and the southern part of the Netherlands, Karneval takes on aspects of local culture also with parades, balls, costumes, and dancing, but a strong element of political satire and mockery. In fact, during the Habsburg occupation in the 17th century in what is now Belgium, mockery and criticism of political authority, to be punished at other times of year, was actually tolerated during the short period prior to the start of Lent. For quite a number of years now I’ve dreamed about going to Karneval in Aalst, the biggest in the Flemish-speaking region of Belgium. Having spent a month in Belgium last summer, though, I decided to put that off to some point in the future and instead aim for what’s considered the biggest Karneval celebration in northwestern Europe, that in Cologne, Germany. Except for a few hours in Aachen on the Belgian border last summer, it’s been twelve years since I’ve traveled in Germany, a country that always seemed to be a focus of my early European travels because of its central location. It sounds like things have been changing rapidly, though, so I don’t know if I’ll still recognize the country. My trip plan is for just over two weeks in Germany concentrating on Cologne and its near environs during Karneval week and then taking in other cities and sites in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous and crowded province which includes Cologne, Bonn, Dusseldorf, Munster, and the Ruhr region. I don’t anticipate great weather in Germany in early March so don’t plan to rent on this trip and anticipate most of my activities to be urban and of a cultural nature like museums and historic sites. The Rhineland isn’t as famous among travelers as Bavaria, but I believe there’s still a lot to see and do there over two weeks.

Planned Dates

2019-02-25 to 2019-03-13

Countries

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