Fasching/Karneval | Celebration in Germany
Even month we spent here in Germany comes with another surprise and this month we found out that Carnival is celebrated, in a very different way of Carnival in Brazil, where we grew up.
Those days around Carnival celebrations are called Fasching or Karneval here in Germany, similar to another countries in Europe.
The terms also differ depending of each region, so you might hear karneval, fasching, fastnacht among other names.
The celebrations are usually concentrated from Friday to Tuesday and here in the Frankfurt area, most of the parades are on Saturday, Sunday or Monday (Rosenmontag) with decorated floats, bands and lots of people in costumes (ones that are weather appropriated, since it’s still winter here). There is a lot of drinks and loud music, but mainly, lots of sweets being thrown away to the public around the parade.
Cologne has on of the main celebrations in the whole country, with parades that can reach about 6km! Other relevant celebrations take place in Düsseldorf, Bonn, Aachen and Mainz.
Here in the Frankfurt area, most of the celebrations I found online are happening on Saturday and Sunday:
- February 22nd – 11:45pm – Romerberg in Frankfurt – Mayor gives out the City key to the people.
- February 22nd – 12:11pm – Children’s parade from Hauptwashe to Romerberg.
- February 23rd – 12:21pm – Main parade with around 90 groups and more than 3000 participants.
In the girl’s school, fasching was celebrated with a day when they were wearing costumes, listened to music and played games. They also had quite a few sweets. They are on school break from Friday until Tuesday.
We are totally into Karneval spirit this year, especially because we didn’t really celebrated for over 12 years while living in Canada. In Canada, this is not popular, differently from the US, where there is the Mardi Gras, in New Orleans/Louisiana, for example.
We did love having another opportunity to wear costumes though (the kids, I mean).
How about you? Is there any similar celebration where you live?
