It doesn’t start: In the carnival strongholds, numerous trains with theme floats parade through the streets on today’s Rose Monday, the largest of which is in Cologne. Many politicians are also there – mostly as car motifs.
With the Rose Monday parades, the street carnival in the Rhenish carnival strongholds reached its climax at the start of the week. In Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz, hundreds of thousands of people are celebrating again in the city centers despite the gray weather forecast. The focus of the parades is once again on the motif floats, which are traditionally used to satirize politics. The largest parade traditionally takes place in Cologne, where this year’s motto is: “Wat e Theater – wat e Jeckespill”.
The first Jecken in North Rhine-Westphalia started Rose Monday when it was still dark. Some early risers arrived in Cologne city center in their colorful costumes a good three hours before the start of the traditional “Zochs”. You want to be in the front row on the side of the road when the floats finally come by, said a carnival participant who was traveling with a group of friends. Other Jecken hurried past to find a supposedly better place for the camel dance a little further away.
Rose Monday float
From the traffic lights to Putin to the AfD
Rose Monday procession in Cologne several kilometers long
The largest Rose Monday procession in Germany is said to be eight and a half kilometers long, Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) mingled with the foot soldiers in Cologne. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) are also there – but these two only appear as oversized papier-mâché figures on the theme float. In the WDR live ticker you can read everything about the Rose Monday processions in NRW.
In Düsseldorf, carnivalists celebrate under the motto “Wat et nit all jöwt”. The Düsseldorf Carnival Committee expects 500,000 to 600,000 people on the side of the road, the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee expects around 800,000 people. According to State Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), a total of around 62,000 police officers are on duty in North Rhine-Westphalia on the carnival days.
In Mainz, this year’s carnival motto is “On Carnival Night, Mainz am Rhein invites the whole world to a glass of wine,” which refers to a glass of wine. The parades particularly focus on the motif floats, which are traditionally used to satirize politics. The SWR reports live from the Rose Monday parade.
Along with Cologne and Düsseldorf, Mainz is one of the most important carnival strongholds in Germany. More than 500,000 spectators are expected to be in the city for the Rose Monday parade. In other large cities such as Trier and Koblenz, fools are also roaming the streets today.
Fatal incident in Rhineland-Palatinate
Already at the weekend, tens of thousands of fools had tuned in to the carnival climax on Rose Monday. In mixed weather, parades with colorfully costumed people paraded through the streets in many parts of Germany, even outside the Rhenish carnival strongholds.
However, in St. Goarshausen, Rhineland-Palatinate, the carnival parade ended in tragedy. A 20-year-old man fell under a moving carnival float in the city on the Rhine on Saturday afternoon after the parade ended and was fatally injured.