Oh shame: Today, 11/11, the crazy time begins. Some take cover, others really blossom. Like the cabaret artist and carnival artist Anne Vogd
I’m currently sitting on the ICE from Frankfurt to Cologne. With me in the open-plan car 150 people, so about as many as on Rose Monday in a 20 square meter Cologne corner pub. That means: I am not sitting there, but a celebratory creature in a black and yellow Hummel deluxe plush costume that is so generously cut that the Höhner still fit underneath. I look like Maya the bee on cortisone – but the thing is perfect for rocking.
Now this fool’s time has different names: Carnival, Fasnacht or “Get rid of the shit”, as my husband always says. But good: every Jeck is different, as the Rhinelander say.
For me, carnival is just as much a part of German culture as the Lüneburg Heath, Birkenstock sandals or waste separation. I find it completely normal when a sign hangs on the door of a Cologne bakery on Rose Monday: “We are closed for women’s carnival and Rose Monday. The shop too. “
One Rhinelander is funny, two are carnival
Besides, we carnival fans don’t differ that much from the rest of the republic. We all like to be in the fresh air and with people – whether it’s the Castor transport, at Stuttgart 21 or on Rose Monday. The main thing is “der Zoch kütt”.
Today is a day on which nothing happens in Hamburg, which does not happen on November 12th. or on November 13th could happen. Hamburg, stop – the Mecca for all junkie refugees, the promised land, in which you are considered to be in costumes if you wear something other than navy blue. I once wanted to take a Hanseatic to a carnival meeting. His comment: “I’ll go as a couch and stay at home.”
What am I doing well in our Hessian metropolises? Here, too, the motto since today: “Fastnacht is loading.” Not quite as crazy as in the Rhineland, where an entire region is catapulted into a crazy togetherness without a will. But we Hessian jockeys can also be seen. The foolish lack of entertainment is an expression of a sense of togetherness, laughter a social lubricant. One Rhinelander is funny, two are carnival, says the Cologne native. Nonsense is just nicer when it happens in community. The password for life is humor. “Yes, always there” and with “Drinks e ejne met” too. In any case, I’ve never come home from a session thirsty. On November 11, 2019, I even had to take a taxi. But I brought it back the next day.
So be careful, dear North Germans: Carnival can contain traces of joie de vivre. Think about it. Or better: celebrate for a night!
Bützchen, your Anne
