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News and views from the German-language region of Europe

February 15, 2007

"They didn’t cut your tie in half?"

Filed under Life in Europe

That was the question an amazed co-worker asked me when I arrived at the office in Bonn some 30 years ago today after having used public transportation to get to work.

I didn’t wear a tie to work every day, but I did Weiberfasnacht in Bonn-Beuel that particular day. It was "Weiberfasnacht", a kind of "Ladies Mardi Gras Day" each year on the Thursday prior to Ash Wednesday. The Mardi Gras ladies invade city hall, snip men’s ties in half and generally act a little crazy, which is how Mardi Gras ("Karneval") is sometimes described in Germany – the crazy days. "Weiberfasnacht" is also a day for parades, like the one today in Bonn-Beuel. Sure enough, there were plenty of costumed ladies in the parade, and also some men wearing their typical "Karneval" uniforms.

Mardi Gras is a real highlight in the lower Rhine River region, with cities like Mainz, Cologne and Düsseldorf Weiberfasnacht in Bonn-Beuel being considered the main bastions of "Karneval" celebrations. This coming Monday, called "Rosenmontag" in Germany, will be the highlight of Mardi Gras season with thousands of people lining the streets in those cities and elsewhere to watch the Mardi Gras parades. The long Mardi Gras season starts each year at 11:11 a.m. on November 11th and is pretty much over after "Rosenmontag", even though Ash Wednesday is still another day away. The Tuesday in-between is used for recovery, as I learned one year when I called a shop at normal working hours in the morning, only to find that no one had reported for work yet – they were all still recovering from "Rosenmontag"!

Paul Kieffer's blog with personal insights and news from the German-language region in Europe.

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