Floats, sweets and crowded streets have been swapped for televised puppet parade and comedy performances. Merry-makers in Germany are already facing fines over lockdown-violating Carnival parties.
People in Germany have been finding alternative ways to celebrate this year's CarnivalImage: Oliver Berg/dpa/picture alliance
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German Carnival fans settled in for subdued celebrations on Monday, with large parades and parties canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rose Monday, or Rosenmontag, marks the high point of Germany's Carnival celebrations. The merry-making lasts for several days in the lead up to Ash Wednesday, which marks the start of Lent.
In a typical year, thousands of costumed revelers would pack the streets in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Mainz and other cities — for a day of dancing, drinking and sweets.
This year, however, strict lockdown measures and concerns about the spread of new coronavirus variants mean all large events have been called off.
It's the first time the parade has been called off in Cologne since 1991, when it was canceled due to the Gulf War. For Mainz and Düsseldorf, the last time parades were called off was in 2016 due to gale-force winds.
Cologne's Rose Monday COVID-19 parade
Lovingly built and wearing Carnival outfits, traditional puppets get to ride this year's floats in the Cologne Rose Monday parade. The actual parade, a mega event, was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Image: Jens Krick/Flashpic/picture alliance
Parade of a different kind
The Rose Monday parade in Cologne is the largest event of its kind in Germany, and draws up to a million visitors from all over the world to the city every year. But because of the pandemic, it won't be happening this year. As a replacement, the legendary Hänneschen Theater puppets, wearing all manner of fun costumes, will be featured in a mini televised parade on February 15.
Image: Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa/picture alliance
Parade route as backdrop
Holger Kirsch, head of the traditional Rose Monday parade, presents 32 meters of stage scenery built for the event, reproducing the buildings the parade would traditionally march by on Rose Monday. In 2021, 155 puppets will be the stars of the mini-floats. Carnival is normally Cologne's biggest celebration, Kirsch argues — so it will still be underlined, "albeit quietly."
Image: Henning Kaiser/dpa/picture alliance
The jester's cap
The puppetmakers have even created a tiny version of the president of the parade: Holger Kirsch will ride in his very own mini float, the framework of a Cologne jester's cap adorned with tiny medallions showing the coats of arms of the city's many Carnival societies. The mini Rose Monday parade was built on a scale of 1:3.
Image: Horst Galuschka/dpa/picture alliance
Hoarding during the pandemic
During the lockdown at the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year, toilet paper was in short supply in Germany. Not least because the Germans bought toilet paper in almost inconceivable quantities. Panic-buying has its own verb in German: to "hamster." The float shows a hamster stuffing its cheeks with toilet paper.
Image: Horst Galuschka/dpa/picture alliance
Political satire
Carnival parades in Germany typically include floats with biting political satire. The float named "United" shows a Statue of Liberty split in two with an ax, symbolic of the divisions in the US. The bloody butcher's knife refers to the violent clashes during the recent election campaign. And there's a word on its grip: Trump.
Image: Horst Galuschka/dpa/picture alliance
Traditional corps
In addition to the 16 theme floats, the creators built tiny replicas of the floats that traditionally carry dignitaries from the Carnival societies, including the above Blaue Funken float. Founded in 1870, the Blaue Funken is one of the oldest Cologne Carnival societies and one of the nine traditional corps in the Cologne Carnival.
Image: Jens Krick/Flashpic/picture alliance
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How are people celebrating this year?
The city of Cologne is swapping its hours-long parade and street festival for a miniature version put on by puppets.
The puppet parade will be shown on TV in the afternoon, put on by local public broadcaster WDR. The show will take place in the float-building hall of the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee — with a 32-meter-long (104-foot-long) backdrop of the city's old town district.
One crowd that was permitted in the city was made up of 111 red-and-white mannequins. Cologne-based artist Dennis Josef Meseg created them as part of an installation called "It is like it is," in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The figures were installed at various locations, including bars and squares that are usually packed with of Karneval revelers.
People in ones or twos and dressed in Karneval costumes stood among them at the locations to feel as though they were among fellow party-goers.
In Düsseldorf, eight Carnival floats are being put on display for two hours. The floats will then be driven on three different routes through the city to avoid crowds from forming.
In Mainz, the city's traditional Carnival clubs will put on a virtual show in the evening.
Revelers fined in Cologne
Despite restrictions curbing large and small gatherings alike, German authorities broke up several parties over the weekend.
In Cologne, authorities broke up 24 private gatherings on Saturday alone that breached lockdown rules.
Some 111 people face fines of up to €250 ($303) per person.
