Germany, especially the western part (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate) is famous for Karneval celebrations such as parades and costume balls. Whilst these events are widespread in all big and smaller places of that area, only Cologne, Düsseldorf, Aachen, Mainz, Bonn are supposed to be carnival "strongholds". In the South of Germany carnival is called Fasching and especially Munich developed a special kind of it.
German Carnival parades are held on the weekend before and especially on Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), the day before Shrove Tuesday, but the carnival season, the so called "fifth season", officially begins on November 11th (11/11) at 11:11 a.m. and finishes on Ash Wednesday. In the Rhineland as the most typical Carnival region, festivities developed especially strongly, since it was a way to express subversive anti-Prussian and anti-French thoughts in times of occupation, through parody and mockery. Modern carnival there began in 1823 with the founding of a Carnival Club in Cologne. Today all Carnival Clubs are assembled in the German Carnival Association. The "Swabian-Alemannic" carnival only begins on January 6 (Epiphany/ Three Kings Day). This celebration is known as Fastnacht (literally "Fasting Eve" as it originally only referred to the eve of the fasting season). Variants are Fasnet, Fasnacht or Fasent. Fastnacht is held in Baden-Württemberg, parts of Bavaria, and Alsace. Switzerland and Vorarlberg, in Austria, also hold this celebration. The festival starts on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, known in these regions as Schmutziger Donnerstag or Fettdonnerstag. In High German, schmutzig means "dirty", but actually the name is from the local dialect where schmutzig means "fat"; "Greasy Thursday". Elsewhere the day is called "Women's Carnival" (Weiberfastnacht), being the day when tradition says that women take control. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
