Düsseldorf Helau! – Carnival On The Rhine 2012
With the beginning of the fifth season on 11 November 2011 at 11:11 there was no holding back for Düsseldorf’s carnival fans any more. For weeks and months they prepared and still prepare for the 2012 highlights between 16 February and Ash Wednesday (22 February).
The “foolish days” start on Thursday before Rosenmontag (Rose Monday, this year: 16 Feb), when the ‘Möhnen’ (the womenfolk) take over Düsseldorf’s Rathaus (city hall), occupy the market stalls on Carlsplatz and leave little to say to the men.
On carnival Sunday (19 Feb), as a sort of dress rehearsal on Königsallee, thousands of people in costume gather all day long. Whole families, bowling clubs or groups of friends are out and about, very often using a baby carriage or a handcart to carry a small barrel of beer. There has been a steady increase in their numbers over the years.
Everything else is beside the point when the Rosenmontagszug (Rose Monday Parade, 20 Feb) approaches. 60 floats, most of them decorated with a lot of imagination, dozens of bands and groups on foot belong to this ‘fools’ army’, throwing sweets, flowers and other little presents at the crowd. The parade is 3.500 m long – twice as long when it winds through the narrow lanes of the Altstadt – takes 4 to 5 hours to end and has more than a million cheering spectators celebrating and waiting for a good catch along the way.
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