Two people have died this week during Karneval parades and several others were seriously injured. Both of the deaths resulted from head injuries sustained after falls.
The Rhineland’s <i>Rosenmontag</i> parades kicked off on Monday, marking the pinnacle of the region’s Karneval celebrations with boozy processions featuring off-colour floats lampooning the year’s big news events.
Germany's Karneval festivities kicked off on Thursday at 11:11 am, as jesters stormed city halls across the Rhineland, marking the official start to the clownish, boozy parades to come.
Cologne may be the traditional heartland of Germany’s Karneval festivities, but city residents these days are looking a little less kindly on its booze-fuelled shenanigans. Some are even saying the Rhineland has lost some of its renowned tolerance.
At exactly 11:11 am on Thursday, an army of jesters descended on the central squares in several Rhineland cities to kick off the traditional "Fifth Season" of Karneval. Months of clownish, alcohol-fuelled partying are to follow.
Lent might be a period of abstinence, but Bavarian monks decided centuries ago that drinking highly alcoholic beer helped their fasting. Thomas Barkley explains Munich's <i>Starkbierzeit</i> tradition.
Police are calling for witnesses on Wednesday after a horde of people dressed as Vikings attacked a family home in Bavaria, injuring a woman and three children, a spokesperson told The Local.
Huge effigies of US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and zombie bankers starred in Karneval parades across the Rhineland on Monday.
Tens of thousands of <i>Jecken</i> hit the streets in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate on Thursday morning to kick off several days of alcohol-fuelled Karneval celebrations ahead of Lent.
Maybe it's the ''calming'' effect of all that Bavarian beer, but the relatively sedate approach to Karneval in Munich has the excitable folks from Cologne worried. So they've decided to do something about it.
The tough economic climate is failing to dent Germans’ enthusiasm for Karneval, with partygoers set to spend €300 million on costumes and makeup during this year’s season, the Toy Retailers’ Association said Monday.
The party could soon be over for Germany’s smallest Karneval parade unless the town of Unna in North Rhine-Westphalia can find a replacement for its retiring merry jester.
The Cologne chief of police is suggesting a total bottle ban during the city’s debaucherous <i>Karneval</i> festival after annual booze-fuelled frenzy became particularly rowdy this week, daily <i>Express</i> reported on Wednesday.
Tuesday may be the last day for zealous Karneval goers to drink themselves into frothy oblivion before the onset of Lent, but new figures show Germans are only moderate consumers of beer – averaging as little as one bottle per day.
Despite a chilly drizzle, Cologne’s <i>Karneval</i> parade lived up to its festive reputation on <i>Rosenmontag</i> or Shrove Monday in the heart of the predominantly Roman Catholic Rhineland region of Germany.
Karneval organisers in Mainz have altered a model of a nun in an airport scanner after protests that she was shown topless, wearing just suspenders pants and a tattoo under her clothes.
Violence at the start of Cologne's bacchanalian Karneval celebration on Thursday evening was more intense than usual, police in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia reported on Friday.
The Cologne <i>Karneval</i> committee has decided not to let a float parody of Chancellor Angela Merkel travel topless through the city during its <i>Rosenmontag</i> parade next Monday.
Vendors and event planners for Cologne’s wild <i>Karneval</i> festival are feeling the pinch of the economic crisis, daily <i>Express</i> reported on Tuesday.
News this week that the first Turkish Karneval club had been founded in Cologne with the aim of making the wild and boozy festivities a more civilised matter befitting Muslims has turned out to be a TV spoof, broadcaster RTL revealed on Friday.
While the Rhineland readies for the traditional “fifth season,” or <i>Karneval</i>, the Turkish community in Cologne has founded the first foreign carnival club (TKVD) to take part in the wild and boozy festivities in their own way, the organisation revealed during Wednesday.
Cologne’s traditional carnival season kicked off on Tuesday at 11:11 am in the city centre, where some 70,000 revelers were expected to turn up to party in costume.
