Cologne Carnival---What kind of class do you need to get high

Imagine walking down an ancient street and suddenly encountering monsters, people in strange costumes, and deafening music and cheers. Isn't that super exciting?

Fasnet Carnival is 500 years old! The carnival here is not only about drinking and dancing, but also a series of rituals to clear the winter haze, which is super fun!

If you're here, wear cool costumes and jump with the town! 🕺🕺 and don't forget to catch the sausages. It is said that bad things happen if you don't catch them. Isn't that funny? 😝

The Cologne Carnival is a unique folk festival in the Rhine, attracting millions of visitors year after year.

During the six days between Weiberfastnacht (Women's Carnival) and Veilchendienstag (Purple Tuesday), people celebrate so much that Carnival is also known as the "fifth season" of the year.

The Carnival in 2025 will run from February 27 to March 5. On Rose Monday (March 3), some 8km of floats, trekking teams, dance teams and music teams throw 300,000 tons of sweets and distribute around 300,000 "Strußjer" (flowers) as a token of love.

"Kolle Alaaf" is the slogan of the Carnival, which derives from the medieval toast: "All ab" (all-av), roughly meaning "Cologne alone" or "Cologne over everything".

Costumes are a big part of the Cologne Carnival and everyone dresses up. The costumes people wear sometimes have meaning - such as a city's religious history or a badge showing the city - but more are just for fun.

Red and white are the city colors of Cologne, so you'll see a lot of people wearing red and white stripes. The most common costume is jecke, but there are also many colorful wigs, cowboys, pompadour skirts, animal onesies, and pirate suits.

Women's carnival
⏰ Thursday, February 8
This day is the beginning of the formal street carnival, usually solemn and elegant German women, like a volcano eruption on this day to let out their feelings. On that day, the most worrying thing for men is the fear that women will cut off their ties 👔, if you are wearing a designer tie, do not go to the street

Street carnival
⏰ Friday, February 9
As Mardi Gras weekend approaches, there are many parties 🥧, dances 💃🏻, concerts 🎵, traditional parades where Mardi Gras artists celebrate late into the night

Carnival Saturday
⏰ Saturday, February 10th
In the morning revelers hold an open-air event at Neumarkt, a new market, where a Funkenstange mug can be filled with Cologne beer for free, and in the evening the famous Geisterzug Ghost Parade, an alternative carnival parade with a political tinge, is held. Everyone can join in as melancholic characters or sparkling elves, and the route changes depending on the theme from year to year

Tulip Sunday
⏰ Sunday, February 11
On Sunday there are more school parades and local parades as well as humorous speeches, singing and fun carnivals that will definitely make you marvel at such a big celebration!

Rose Monday
Monday, February 12th
There are thousands of performing teams in the parade and the parade of floats can be dizzied. At 🌸 people shout "Kolle Alaaf" and get various candy and flowers thrown from the floats 🍭 the official route of the parade has also attracted much attention

Violet Tuesday
⏰ Tuesday, February 13
The Carnival slowly draws to a close, with the burning of the Nabel Nubbel scarecrow held in front of many bars in the evening to bury the "crimes" committed during the carnival and to mark the end of the "fifth season"

Ash Wednesday
⏰ Wednesday, February 14
It is the beginning of Lent and it is a Catholic tradition to go to church to confess. A torchlight procession at midnight will be a unique and beautiful experience