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CARNIVAL

6 things I learned at my first Cologne Karneval

The Local's Emma Anderson shares what she learned after her first time hanging with all the 'Jecken' at Cologne's renowned Karneval.

6 things I learned at my first Cologne Karneval
Photo: DPA.

If there's one thing everyone knows about Cologne, it's that the city knows how to throw a good Karneval party. Young and old flooded the streets this year, as every year, wearing crazy costumes and perpetually drinking their treasured Kölsch pale lager day and night – and into the next day and night, on and on.

With little sleep and paint probably still lingering somewhere in my hair, I reflect on some of the things I learned during my first time around Karneval.

1. If you don't wear a costume, you'll feel very left out

Photo: DPA.

It's not just the parade marchers who go all out on costumes. Just about every person – young and old – is decked out from head-to-toe in elaborate designs. There was one man in a bar dressed as a shower, complete with a plastic curtain hanging from a circular metal ring above him, attached to a shower head.

Even if you neglect to bring along colourful duds, there are still quite a few stores open during the festivities, offering props and face paint.

2. There's a particular culture of drinking beer

Photo: DPA.

In Cologne, beer is served in short, cylindrical 200-milliliter glasses. But don't let the small size of the glasses fool you – people will drink a lot. The traditional method of drinking in Cologne is that when you finish one beer, the waiter brings you another one, marking each down on a coaster. 

And if you buy any beers at any of the Kiosk convenience stores before hitting the street parties, don't even think about grabbing (or being able to find) anything other than a local Kölsch brew – people take their beer loyalty very seriously.

3. The songs will get stuck in your head, even if you can't understand them

One of the more beloved traditions of Karneval is to sway along with the crowd, belting out any of the numerous local drinking songs while at one of the many parades, or while just walking through the streets. These drinking song singing sessions can go on for quite a while as Cologne’s people seem to have an endless supply of them. But good luck trying to follow the lyrics, even if your German is superb – they’re all in the dialect of Kölsch.

Luckily, a German-American couple decided a few years ago to create a book with English translations of the Kölsch songs.

The most important thing to know how to sing – or shout at the top of your lungs – is Kölle Alaaf, meaning Cologne above all others.

4. Things are not politically correct
 
Photo: DPA.
 
Many costumes worn at Karneval wouldn't be considered very politically correct by some in my homeland of the US. One of the most common outfits worn is that of Native Americans with feathers in their hair and fringed clothing.
 
Others wore black- or brown-face and I noted a few “Arabic” costumes of men dressed in long white shirts wearing red head coverings.
 
5. Some bars did not let refugees inside
 
There was heightened security at this year's Karneval and many locals said that they had never seen so many police officers. The stricter measures follow numerous reports of sexual assaults against women in the Rhineland city and elsewhere on New Year's, as well as international concerns about terrorism.
 
Private establishments also cited security concerns for their door policies. The Local has written before about places around Germany where refugees have been banned from bars or public pools. In Cologne for Karneval, some bars turned people away who looked like refugees, even those in friend groups of non-refugees. 

6. Rain, sleet or snow – this city will party

Despite stormy weather cancelling other carnivals in the Rhineland area on Monday's big Rosenmontag event, Cologne still battled the rain for the sake of celebrating.

As one native Jeck told me, one simply has to adapt their costume for the weather. Many wore rain ponchos atop their clown suits. And capes can be a great way to liven up cold weather gear.

JUDAISM

Ancient Jewish settlement to be brought back to life in Cologne

No city north of the Alps has been home to Jews for as long as the Roman settlement of Cologne. A recently discovered Jewish quarter is now being brought back to life.

Ancient Jewish settlement to be brought back to life in Cologne
The site of the construction in Cologne. Photo: DPA

If you are a tourist walking through the centre of Cologne, sooner rather than later, you'll come across a construction site located in the very best position, in the middle of the town hall square.

At the beginning of this millennium, the people of Cologne dug into the earth directly in front of their historic city hall and found a treasure from another millennium: the Jewish quarter.

Complete with a dance hall, a hospital, a bakery and a synagogue, the quarter contains the ruins of a settlement from the Middle Ages. It is a city within a city, a miniature world of houses huddled together. 

Of course, all that is left is ruins – one needs a bit of imagination to picture how the whole thing once looked. But experts from Germany and abroad agree: there's nothing like it anywhere else in the world.

Ancient tradition

No other German city has been associated with Jewish history for so long as Cologne. 

The first documented Jewish community dates back to the year 321, making it the oldest north of the Alps. 

But in 1349, the neighbourhood was destroyed and its inhabitants were murdered or expelled. Local Christians blamed Jews for the outbreak of the plague.

Currently, a museum is being built over the site on the town hall square. It will be a parallel world underground: visitors will be able to relive life in the Jewish quarter in the era of knights and minstrels on a 600-meter-long trail. The trail also visits the governor's palace from Roman times, which was rediscovered in the 1950s. 

The museum is called MiQua after the name for the Jewish ritual bath, Mikveh.

Exhibits will include artifacts found during the excavations; among them is a crescent-shaped, gem-set gold earring from the 11th century. 

The researchers also discovered a tablet dating back to the Middle Ages with the inscription “yt in ys neyt anders.” This could be translated as “Et is wie et is” (It is as it is) – a classic Cologne saying. 

The museum is scheduled to open in 2024, but through the panorama windows on the third floor of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, also located on Rathausplatz, one can already follow the progress of construction work.

This year Jewish life will be celebrated across the country – the anniversary year '1,700 years of Jewish life in Germany' will be celebrated nationwide. 

Hamburg is organising a themed week entitled 'More than Little Jerusalem'; in Nuremberg the photo exhibition 'Germany's Emigrants' will be opened; and in Herxheim in Rhineland-Palatinate the play Judas by Lot Vekemans will be staged.

READ MORE: 9 hilarious gifts Judaism gave the German language

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