Cologne can look back on more than 200 years of carnival history, although people had already celebrated exuberantly on the eve of Lent in the Middle Ages.
It was not until 1823 that the “Festival Organizing Committee”, the predecessor of the “Cologne Carnival Festival Committee”, was founded to “organize” and renew the colorful hustle and bustle.
Since then, there have been organized and well-prepared masked processions and carnival balls like the one in the Gürzenich.
In addition to many large carnival events, which are also broadcast on television, the traditional prince proclamation always takes place here at the beginning of January.
At first, only well-off members were on the “Great Council”, but over time the number of members grew to include representatives of many new competing carnival societies.
The carnival has mostly remained true to its satire on the authorities, except during the terrible years of Nazi rule, when it was mostly Jews who were mocked and ridiculed on the processions.
Rose Monday is the highlight of the Cologne Carnival. The “Zuch” (almost) always starts at the Severinstorburg in Cologne’s Südstadt and ends with the Cologne Prince’s float and lots of pomp, Alaaf and sweets.
The prince, farmer and virgin form the trio. All 3 protagonists are represented by a different carnival society every year. Prince Carnival, the highest representative of the Cologne Carnival, has been around since 1871.
The farmer and virgin followed a few years later. While the farmer symbolizes the steadfastness and defensiveness of the people of Cologne against many defeated enemies, the virgin stands as the protector of Mother Colonia and is (almost) always represented by a man.
The Rose Monday parade, as in the Corona year 2021, has unfortunately been canceled several times in its history:
The parade was canceled a total of 33 times due to war, storms and crises.
Every year, the revelers eagerly await the opening of the session starting on Ash Wednesday.
From November 11th. it then says again: “For when the drums are playing”.
Video about the carnival during the Nazi era
Podcast “200 Years of Cologne Carnival - A short journey through the foolish history of Cologne”
Our next sight is in 19th century Cologne and we are about to visit the equestrian monument. It’s just around the corner.
Image sources:
1st image: Rolf Hahn, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
2nd image: Carnival in the Gürzenich, Joeopitz, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons
3rd image: Reception for the Cologne Three Kings in Cologne City Hall, © Raimond Spekking
