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Carnival in Germany: Fastnacht / Fasching / Karneval

Carnival, the rowdy celebrations preceding the start of Lent, is celebrated across many cultures with different traditions. While Latin cultures are famous for their Carnival celebrations in places such as New Orleans and Venice, there is a very strong Carnival tradition in northern cultures, as well, especially in the Catholic areas of Germany, where the Carnival season lasts for several months. The “Karneval” of Rio (from Latin “carrus navalis” = the “ship of fools”) becomes the “Fastnacht” of Mainz (from the Germanic word “fasten” - to fast).

In many parts of Germany, the official Carnival season begins at the 11th minute past the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month – November 11. This gives the various Carnival guilds three to four months to organize the festivities, such as parades, balls, and the election of their Carnival “royalty.” In regions where the season does not open in November, the official start of the season is on January 7th, the day after Epiphany. The celebrations culminate in a big party during the week before Ash Wednesday, when the Lenten season of austerity begins.

Some of Germany’s best known celebrations are held in Cologne, Mainz, Munich and Rottweil. But Cologne’s Karneval is very different from the Munich’s “Fasching.” In Cologne, the big parade is held on Rose Monday, while in Bavaria and Austria, Shrove Tuesday is the date of the main event (as it is in New Orleans).

Carnival season in Germany is a time of wild fancy-dress parties and costume balls, and a strong tradition of political satire and subversive humor. The big parades feature elaborately decorated floats that often lampoon regional and national politicians. During the months leading up to the parades, the various Carnival guilds create a “counter-government,” electing their own princes and princesses for the season. The Rhineland Carnival parade is a major event that is broadcast each year on German national television, with colorful floats that mock politicians and other celebrities or current events.

One of the largest and craziest Carnival celebrations is based in the city of Cologne, which dates its history to the year 1341. Its celebrations feature the “Dreigestirn” (three Stars): the Carnival Prince, known as ‘His Craziness’, the Bauer (peasant) and the Jungfrau (virgin), who has always been played by a man. It is considered a great honor to be elected to be a member of the Dreigestirn, who are chosen in October from among the members of Cologne’s 105 historic carnival associations.

The Cologne carnival involves numerous street-parties, as well as private parties in homes and pubs around the city, with people disguised in costumes. Popular choices include sheiks, Vikings, Attila the Hun, clowns and harlequins, devils, witches, animals, or fruit, and in many other creative ways (see the picture collections). The big parade, attended by more than 1.5 million people, is on Rose Monday, and the many Carnival associations put a lot of effort into building and decorating the floats, from which riders in costumes throw lollipops and other sweets while singing many traditional Carnival songs. The Carnival Prince parades with a royal bodyguard, which is dressed in 18th century uniforms and which commemorates the city’s tradition of anti-militarism by disobeying orders from their commander and by marching with flowers in their rifle-barrels. The Prince and his Princess then move into the city hall, where they rule until midnight.

On the Thursday before the parade, the city celebrates “Weiberfastnacht,” the Women’s Carnival, a night on which women carry scissors with them when they go out, since they are allowed to cut the necktie from any man they meet, and to kiss any man they feel like kissing!

Origins of German Carnival Traditions

Carnival is associated with Christian church holidays – a time of wild partying before the austerity of Lent. Its roots, however, go back to pagan times, when there were seasonal celebrations designed to drive out the evil spirits of winter and encourage the coming of spring and good crops. The ugly masks worn to scare away these evil spirits are still worn in the Carnival festivals of southern Germany. The holiday was influenced by the pagan Roman festivals of Lupercalia and the Saturnalia, which explain why Cologne and Mainz, two cities with an ancient Roman history, have such large carnival celebrations. These festivals included the temporary suspension of the authority of the higher classes over the lower ones, and of masters over slaves.

During the Middle Ages, the Carnival celebrations allowed people to temporarily overturn the tightly structured class system, with peasants disguised as princes, mixing with aristocrats disguised as farmers. Similar to today’s tradition of political satire, the lower classes dressed as knights or priests to lampoon the ruling classes.

Other Carnival traditions, such as the parade floats, may date back to ancient Babylon, where a magnificently decorated ship on wheels was pulled to the temple of the god Marduk. Similar “ship chariots” were used to honor the Egyptian goddess Isis. The Germans, in turn, honored the fertility goddess Nerthus, Mother Earth, with similar rites. While the Church tried to suppress these customs, they persisted into the Middle Ages.

Since these heathen traditions could not be suppressed by the Church, they were gradually supplied with new symbolism and adapted to the Church calendar. Up to the Middle Ages, carnival celebrations were boisterous and fairly simple. Beginning in the Middle Ages, the many courts in Germany started to compete with each other to turn the ceremonies into splendid displays. Around 1500, under Emperor Maximilian, tournaments followed by masked balls became the rage of the imperial court, reaching the height of brilliance in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Many German Carnival traditions commemorate historical insurrections against authority, such as the revolt by craftsmen against the ruling class of Nuremberg, in 1348 and 1349. Most areas have traditions involving a symbolic occupation of the town hall by the Carnival court of fools. Carnival meetings involve satirical critiques, often recited in verse, or current policies and legislative actions. This political satire is especially prominent in the Mainz Carnival celebrations, where it initially provided an outlet from the frustrations of the French occupation in the early 19th century.

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