A nice place to live…
…
Our capital Berlin and the German
Parliament „Der deutsche Bundestag“
Brandenburger Tor in Berlin
North RhineWestphalia
- and some of
its cities
Düsseldorf on the River Rhine
Fortuna Düsseldorf - a famous football team
Cologne – the cathedral and one of the
bridges over the River Rhine
Where we live: Region Aachen-Eifel
Aachen, the city of Carolus Magnus
Aachen Cathedral
Aachen University
The historical center of Aachen
The „Eifel“, countryside around Aachen
Carnival
An Old Tradition
Fasching/ Carnival/ Fastnacht/
Carnival is not celebrated all over
Germany – it has a special significance
along the River Rhine.
The most popular and best known
festivities are the carnival parades in
Cologn, Aachen, Düsseldorf and Mainz.
But there are others in different parts
of Germany. In the south of the country
carnival is called “Fastnacht” or
“Fasching”.
On the map you can see the different
names carnival has got in different
parts of Germany.
In these days people in the streets are wearing
frightening masks. Sometimes you see witches on their
brooms and some of the figures are carrying bells and
whips which they use to make a lot of noise.
This is a very old tradition to banish winter, to exorcise
the evil spirits that endanger the crop and to wake up
the good spirits that bring along spring. Of course most
people don`t believe
in these myths any longer, but they enjoy participating.
You can see some of the traditional costumes in the small
pictures above the text, but most people simply use their
imagination to create costumes of their own.
Length of the parade: 7 km
Distance: 6,5 km
Spectators: 1,3 million
Participants on the vehicles :
1.092 persons
Participants on foot : 3.038
persons
Dance groups : 641 persons
Helpers : 4.283 persons
Total : 11.821persons
Moreover 518 saddle and cart horses,
129 carnival vehicles, 76 tractors and 77
baggage carts, 700 tons of candy,
700.000 bars of chocolate, 300.000
bunches of flowers, thousands of dolls
and other small gifts ( every participant
has to pay for his own material)
The decoration of the vehicles is made of
wood, paper, wire, polystyrene and
plastic materials, glue, screws and tacks
as well as tons of paint
Carnival Dances
A group of carnival dancers called
„Tanzmariechen“ in their traditional
uniforms.
Sometimes there are also male dancers.
A committee of 11 men are
traditionally the leaders of the carnival
clubs. They usually wear special
uniforms in the colors of their clubs
and a cap as a parody of military
equipment.
The end of Carnival - your sins are
forgiven on Ash Wednesday
On Ash Wednesday, two days after
the carnival parades, the
celebrations are finished and a
forty-day period of fasting (until
Easter Sunday) begins. Today only
few people are willing to do without
luxury food, alcohol or tobacco, but
in any case this difficult time can be
endured more easily after a week of
delicacies, festivities and abundance.
On Ash Wednesday religious people
go to church to receive their Ash
cross, a sign painted on their
foreheads with ash that symbolizes
foregiveness for the sins commited
during the days of carnival.