The Cologne Jecken started the Rose Monday procession with Alaaf and confetti. At around 10 a.m. the so-called council brass gave the starting signal for the eight and a half kilometer long “Zoch” at the Severinstorburg in the southern part of the city. The carnivalists celebrated in the cathedral city in gray weather. This year the motto is: “Wat e Theater – wat e Jeckespill”. The Rose Monday parades in Mainz and Düsseldorf traditionally only start at 11.11 a.m. and 12 p.m. respectively.
Germany’s largest Rose Monday procession in Cologne leads, among other places, through the Old Market and past Cologne Cathedral, and is expected to end shortly before 2 p.m. According to the Cologne festival committee, around 300 tons of camels were to be thrown along the way, including 700,000 bars of chocolate.
Political messages at the Cologne Carnival
However, the Cologne triumvirate suffered a failure. Prince Sascha I and farmer Werner had to do without Virgin Frieda at the height of the street carnival. As the festival committee explained, Virgo Friedrich Klupsch is injured in the hip. The doctors prescribed absolute bed rest.
The focus of the parades is traditionally on the motto floats, which critically address politics. A car in Cologne shows Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) as a sloth slumbering on a branch. The farmers’ protests are also discussed.