Rosenmontag

Today is Rosenmontag, and there is a big Karneval parade in Koeln (Cologne in English). But it seems to me that the festivities leading up to Ash Wednesday have been going on since the Epiphany, January 6. They have been broadcasting the Karneval Balls from Cologne on TV, and the peak of all this partying was reached this past weekend, the last weekend of Lent, which started on Thursday, Weiberfastnacht, and ends tomorrow on Faschingsdienstag, also known as Mardi Gras.

In Bavaria, they don't call it Karneval, but Fasching, and although everyone celebrates it and the kids have a week off from school, it is not as important of a holiday as in Cologne, where it is a public holiday. The parades are also bigger and wilder. We celebrated Karneval in Dormagen and Hackenbroich, which lie just north of Cologne. Bob's cousin lives in Hackenbroich, so when we lived in Deutschland before, we would visit during Karneval. Every little town and village in the area has its own Karneval Umzug (parade), and just like in New Orleans, different clubs sponsor floats and throw things at the spectators. In New Orleans they throw beads. Here they throw candy, popcorn, toys, condoms, and sometimes little bottles of liquor.

This year we hit the parade in Dormagen on Saturday and the one in Hackenbroich on Sunday. During Halloween, I told the boys that they would be collecting candy in February instead of October, and they did! They each collected two full shopping bags of candy, chips and popcorn. During Halloween in Chicago, they collected only half a bag each. Next year, I think we'll stay in Erlangen, where the parade is smaller, and therefore, less candy to rot their teeth.