Tomorrow it's Rosenmontag – word by word translation is „Monday of the Roses“, but as far as I know this names doesn’t have to do anything with roses, but is from the German word „rasen“, which describes that people behave crazy on this day. So the better translation would be „Roaring Monday“.
The pic above shows some confetti which is thrown everywhere.
Tomorrow is the climax of carnival. And on Wednesday carnival is over. There are two kinds of carnival in Germany.
First of all there is the „meeting-carnival“, which already begins on November 11th. People meet mostly in the evenings in huge festival halls. They wear costumes and watch a comedy program, which is adapted from the meetings of a parliament. So there are 11 parliamentarians (11 is the foolish number), the „Elferrat“, who leads the meeting (picture above). On the stage there are performed speeches, which should be funny. Such speeches are written in a sort of poem. All lines must rhyme. And after every joke there is played a fanfare by the orchestra, so you can’t miss when you have to laugh. Between these speeches, which are called „Buettenrede“ (speech held from the top of a barrel is the word by word translation), there are musical performances of special carnival-bands or military marches were played.
A group of people, who are costumed like soldiers in old uniforms of about 1800, dances to this music. This is because carnival in the Rhineland spoofs the French and Prussian military. At that time French and Prussian troops had occupied the Rhineland and of course the Rhinelanders didn’t like this. So they spoofed the military during carnival. This was the only way to show their protest. These carnival troops are called „Funken“ and they always have a female „Soldier“, which has to dance the most difficult parts. This female soldier is called „Funkemariechen“ (picture), Mariechen is the name Mary. The male soldiers have to „dance“ „Stippefötchen“, which comes from the word „stippe“ = to touch and „fötchen“= ass. They stand back to back and bump their butts together.
On Women’s shrove, it's on Thursday before Roaring Monday, the street-carnival begins, which lasts until this Tuesday. People are costumed and walk through the streets singing, dancing and celebrating. They meet in the pubs where they keep on celebrating and behaving crazy.
The street carnival is celebrated also by the pageants, which start also on women’s shrove and end on this Tuesday. But most pageants are on the Roaring Monday, which is today. The biggest pageants are in Cologne, Duesseldorf, Bonn, Mainz and Aachen. Hundred thousands of visitors stand in the streets where the pageants will pass and are celebrating. You can’t get into the towns by car on this day. Already in the early morning all streets are full of people. Nothing works any more. It’s state of emergency everywhere.
The pageants consist of huge wagons, which are decorated in a special way. There are political wagons, which spoof politics, there are wagons decorated as gigantic horse-coaches and there are fairy-tale motifs. On the wagons there are the people of the club who have decorated the wagon and they are throwing candies („Kamelle“), bunches of flowers or other little presents. The visitors mostly battle to get the candies or flowers. Some try to catch them with huge umbrellas. But you can imagine that they are not very liked by the other visitors. The police pays attention that nobody is hurt, but the policemen are ordered to celebrate also a bit on this day. Between the wagons there are marching troops of the Funken or other groups in costumes. Such pageant lasts several hours. And after the pageant people keep on celebrating in their homes or in the pubs, where there are parties that last until Tuesday morning.
There is a typical carnival cake. We cal them Kreppel, others call them Berlinder. Kreppel are very similar to donuts. People also eat sausages and potato salad or herring and pickles and they drink a lot: Beer, liqueur, schnaps, sparkling wine and so on. On Tuesday most people can’t work, because they are hangover.
As someone how raised in the Rhineland and loved he street carnivale, I have got some problems with celebrating carnivale as it is celebrated in East-Westphalia. You must know that the East-Westphalians are well known for the lack of any temper. They prefer the meeting carnival and there is no street carnivale at all. And it's so funny at them eetings that I wouldn't know when to laugh if there wouldn't be those fanfares. I would never go there volunteeringly. So at carnivale we prefer to stay at home.
I still have an old photo of a carnival-party in about 1971....
That's me at the age of 12. Funny, how we looked then. By the way, it was my grandma's dress I "styled" with some green fabric....
Helau, Alaaf! This is how people greet each other during carnival.
So: HELAU! HELAU to all!
"Kreppel"
No pictures of bumping butts? haha
Sounds like you've got quite the party going on over there! Love the picture of 12 year old you. You are having a great time at that party for sure :-)
Fun at Google translate with Helau, alaaf!
It does not translate into English and the German voice says it completely different than the English voice. Good thing I can type it because you probably wouldn't understand what I was saying if I followed their example.
mmmmmmmmm donuts......enjoy the day!
Posted by: Lisa | February 19, 2012 at 03:32 PM
I was in love at that time. But my first love didn`t party with us. He lived in the house nearby and I hoped to see him. Useless to say that I didn't see him. First love... sigh!
I posted a little film with someone saying helau and alaaf. Forget about the rest, he is talking through his hat.
Helau: H - e like the "e" in Penny - l - au like the "ow" in browser
Alaaf: A like the a in "are" - l - aa again like the "a" in are but long - f like funny
It's used like "hello". The second silible of both words is long. The emphasis is in both words on the final syllable.
Posted by: Surreal Georgia | February 20, 2012 at 08:33 PM
Hi Georgia, did you manage to take a break and get to the carnival? It sure looks like a great time and something that should not be missed if possible.
Posted by: Patti | February 23, 2012 at 02:56 PM
No, Patti. Here in Eastern Westphalia or North Hesse there is no street carnival. It's only in the Rhineland. In the afternoon the bachelors of our village gathered, walked through the streets and played some nice music for brass instruments. The rang at every door and wanted something to eat or drink. So you have to give them eggs or sausages or schnaps or whatever you have. In the evening they invite all the villagers to eat the collected food together with them and of course there is party. I enjoyed the music very much, but because I was coverd with pasty glue from wallpapering and it was already late in the evening when I was finished I prefered a warm and relaxing bath.
Posted by: Surreal Georgia | February 23, 2012 at 08:28 PM