Karneval 2012

Germans are usually stoic in public...until February and Karneval arrive!  On Thursday, the women take over the city and cut off the tie of any man wearing one.  The entire weekend has events, parades, and festivities.  Most people dress up in costumes, or atleast wear a colorful wig and/or crazy hat.  It is quite the site to see the town come alive with costume dressed adults and children.  Quite the difference from the normal black attire.  I saw lots of costumes on the bus both Thursday and Friday - Santa, various animals, grass skirts, pirates.

This was the favorite costume - Lego minifigures!

I'm told that Karneval is the celebration of the Winter Ghost leaving.  It is similar to Mardi Gras.  Most of the little towns have their own Karneval parade.  Dusseldorf has a large (two hours at least) parade and a friendly rivalry with Koln to see who has the best Karneval celebration.  We thought about going downtown for the big parade.  But, opted to avoid the crowds and chaos and go to the Karneval parade in Lintorf (about 5 minutes away) on Sunday.  We drove as it was cold and we were all fighting colds, otherwise we would've biked.  We arrived with plenty of time to get a good parking spot and then chose our parade watching location on the corner of the street.  We didn't know the parade route, but others were standing there so we decided it was a good option - close to the car and not too many people yet. 

Waiting for the parade to begin.

Well, unfortunately our spot was at the end of the parade and we had to wait over an hour from when the parade was suppose to start (1.5 hours waiting total).  We were all getting impatient for the parade to begin and were happy when we finally saw the confetti flying in the air and knew it had arrived. 

Lots of tractors...every kind we see in Hamilton.  We felt right at home!

Kaleb was mesmerized.

This was the end...men shooting tennis balls into the crowd.

The parade was cute.  Kind of like a July 4th parade only everyone was dressed in costumes.  They threw lots of candy, small packages of popcorn, and other things.  You got an extra large amount thrown at you if you yelled "Helau".  They would yell it back and throw items. 

It was fun to experience Karneval even though we were feeling a little under the weather.  Something to remember when we watch other parades in the future.  After the celebrations, life is returned to normal...and hopefully spring has arrived.