ALAAF

Anyone who is not a fool at Carnival is foolish for the rest of the year.

That's right. It's Carnival time. Much like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, except with it's own special German customs and traditions.

What exactly is carnvial, you may ask? I look at it as a celebration of life. Way back when (hundreds of years ago), Catholic followers in Italy started a tradition of holding a wild costume festival the day before the first day of lent. Because Catholics are not supposed to eat meat during lent, they called their festival "carnevale" which means "to put away the meat." As the years passed, the festivals became very popular and spread to other parts of the world and with it came new Carnival customs and traditions. (This was the history I dug up on the festival. I think, in Germany, some view Carnival as a time to celebrate the days getting longer...as the nights are very long in Germany from November through March).

Until yesterday, I haven't celebrated Carnival at all. The Carnival season (the 5th season) actually started on November 11 at 11:11. The nubmer 11 plays a very speical role during carnvial season. All conventions must start at 11 past the hour. When celebrating, you celebrate in mulitples of 11 instead of the standard 10. I have no idea why "11" is such a magic number. Maybe there was supposed to be 11 Commandments instead of 10. "Ye Shall be a Fool"

In the Rhine Region (where I live), partying for carnival starts on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday and ends on the following Tuesday (a.k.a. Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday). The motto for this years Carnival is "Bonn Kisses the World." The Rhine Region, especially in Cologne (north of Bonn), is very well-known in Germany for it's Carnival Celebrations. The word ALAAF was yelled out often throughout the night. I think it means "Above All" and is usually joined with the word Cologne. I guess folks are saying Cologne is the best - above all the rest!

Weiberfastnacht (women’s carnival night) is the Thursday before Rosenmontag (the 42nd day before Easter), and it is tradition that women are allowed to cut off the tie of any man within reach, and to kiss any man they want to. This day also signals the beginning of the five days of Carnival with nearly 50 small parades leading up to Monday's Rose Parade. In Bonn, Rose Monday is a Public Holiday - Yeah No Work.

So, I didn't see a single Parade...I didn't cut off a single tie...I didn't kiss any random men...and I didn't start the festivities at 11:11am. I did however, dress up as all grown-ups do on Carnival Thursday. The Work crew began the celebration at Lunch time as our office shut down a little early that day to partake in the festivities.

As you can see from the picture above, Carnival is like Haloween for adults and instead of Trick-O-Treating for Candy, most folks head to a bar or to a tent for some good old fashioned German Carnvial Songs of the Cologne Region as well as for a tasty beverage or two or three or....

A few of my favorite photos from the day..we started the celebration at 12noon and I went home at 9pm. It was like Oktoberfest all over again!

Me in My Costume. I'm not exactly sure what I was, but it was like a dork fairy. I even had fairy dust (paper holes that my hole puncher produces)






















The Charlie's Angels Cowgirls (Ruby, Steffi and Verena)

















My Boss, Andy (the Soccer Fan) and I















Ben the German Sailor and Helene the Bumble Bee















Inside of Bar Sachel

















Mark my White Trash Upstairs Neighbor and Ulrike the Pirate

















Verena my cowgirl upstairs neighbor (lives with White Trash Mark) and me, the Dork Fairy

















Karin the Frog Princess and Clare the IPC Cheerleader















My first Carnival was wonderful....too much fun. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend a Thursday afternoon/evening.

I'm off to Torino tomorrow and I am very excited.
Tune in next time for stories from Italy.

Ciao, Betsy =)