Raccoons & Parades

When I think of the word "carnival", several things pop into my head. One thought being of a carnival that is similar to a traveling circus with Ferris Wheels and freak shows. Then I think of my church's Halloween carnival that we throw each year. Lastly I think of Carnival, where people celebrate the time before Lent and the coming of Spring. Then I laugh and think of Mardi Gras (drunk people and beads).

America, unlike the rest of the world (how very typical of us), calls Carnival, Mardi Gras. And it isn't a very huge holiday in the States except for in New Orleans (that I know of... I mean someone random in the Midwest could celebrate it and I would never know haha). However, a large portion of rest of the world celebrates Carnival.

Basically, Carnival and Mardi Gras are the same. It's one big party to shake off Winter and bring in the Spring. A long time ago pagans celebrated it as a way to get rid of the witches and evil spirits associated with Winter (similar to what they did for Halloween). But like a lot of pagan holidays, the Catholic church stepped in an created their own holiday to counter act the pagan one. Carnival became a time to give one last big hoorah before entering into the forty days of Lent. Basically a week to party like there is no tomorrow. And Fat Tuesday is the grand finale. Then you gotta be all holy and give up something on Ash Wednesday. I, for instance, said bye bye to Coke (the SODA... get your mind out of the gutter!), my all time favorite addiction besides chocolate.

Spring cleaning time! Gotta get rid of those witches in your closet!

So Fat Tuesday rolled around and I was pretty excited that I would get to celebrate actual factual Carnival. Since Tuesday is a work day for me, I worked. Imagine that. But, I did get off early to go to Karlsruhe's Carnival parade! Originally Martha was going to go with me, but she decided last minute that she didn't want to go. I was bummed, but it was better in the long run... it was absolute chaos at the parade.

Before I left for the parade, I got all dressed up. Which is what a lot of people do for Carnival in varying degrees. It's kind of like the rest of the world's Halloween (I still think Halloween is better). I, being the ever so creative soul that I am, created a costume out of what I had at home. So I transformed myself into a raccoon. Sans tail (couldn't figure out how to make that in the time that I had). Dressed in a mix of grey and black with a face painted face, I headed out into the city.

My raccoon face painting (acrylic paint).

My whole raccoon costume!

I was running a little late due to my costume, and thus my plans for the parade failed quite epically. You see, I was supposed to meet up with Nacha and her family (who were visiting from Chile) in Marktplatz. But by the time I got there, I realized I couldn't cross the street like I had planned to do, and the parade was just about to begin. And my phone battery was about to die so I didn't have much time to work out a plan with Nacha. So I decided to find a good place to watch the parade and then meet up with Nacha and her family after.

Of course finding a spot to watch was easier said than done. Just to get where I was standing (across the street from Europaplatz) I had to wade my way through hordes of people, most of whom were drunk. I wasn't keen on doing that again, so I looked for a spot nearby where I was standing. I was starting to get desperate when I finally spotted an okay spot where I would only have to peer above a couple heads to see. The parade had already begun, and I was glad just to be able to watch it. Little did I know what I would be dealing with the whole parade.

The parade was almost two hours long, and I instantly regretted not wearing a thicker jacket. My fleece is warm, but not warm enough for the cold wind that was blowing as the sun began to get lower in the sky (being so high above the equator is so annoying sometimes). I spent most of the parade bouncing on the balls of my feet to stay warm. It was also not so fun to stand in one place for that long, but I was distracted enough by the floats and parade goers that it didn't really matter.

The parade was really interesting. It was filled with a lot of traditional German Carnival costumes and clubs. Many of both have been around for several hundred years. Some are newer. But it's clear the clubs take Carnival, their floats, and their costumes seriously. I think my favorite were the witch costumes, they had these scary and intricate masks. They also were hilarious... they walked around with confetti and threw it on people. Or tried to hit you with a pigs bladder (no, I'm not kidding). Other clubs dressed up as lots of other things like clowns, Native Americans, and animals.

One of the floats. The girls in the braids, hats, and dresses are one of the tradition outfits I mentioned.

Pretty sure these guys were jesters.

See all that confetti? The witches were having a field day.

Like most parades, this one involved candy throwing. Which of course is awesome (nothing quite like having hard candy chucked at your head, right?). I like candy, most people do, so I of course wanted some. Now, I really only wanted like a handful or two, which isn't much considering how much candy was thrown. But I was thwarted in my attempts almost every single time I reached for the candy. Why? Problem #1: I'm a butter fingers and can't catch things to save my life. This is always a problem at parades. But usually I'm able to just pick up what I've dropped. But here entered problem #2: The people around me were drunk, greedy little bastards. Anytime candy would come, it was like we were getting brand new iPads thrown at us, the excitement and greed was ridiculous. I would reach for a dropped candy, and either be beaten to it (fair game I guess) or have it snatched out of my hands (not fair at all). Mind you, these are adults I am talking about here. There was only one kid near me, and he was at the front of the crowd, so he was getting candy handed to him by the people in the parade. He didn't have to fight over it like everyone else was. Since I was unwilling to take part in this bloodbath, I just gave up on candy unless it landed directly at my feet. Even then it was a challenge to claim it as mine. Ri-freaking-diculous. I've seen seven-year-old's with more manners.

Blue wig and blondie were the worst of my drunk "friends"...

So aside from ever so delightfully dealing with the company of a drunken crowd, I really enjoyed myself. It was such a cool parade. Candy, costumes, music, and excitement abound. The people watching opportunities were immense. And the looks people gave me for my costume were priceless. My one regret of the afternoon? I wish I had been closer to the front.

Once the last float had floated on by, I entered the sea of people to make my way out of the city center to meet up at Nacha's apartment. Once I got there I was one happy camper to be away from so many people. Crowds really aren't my thing. (Which is hilarious, considering how much I love Disneyland and how I deal with crowds there all the time. Moving on... ) Hanging out with Nacha and her family was a blast. We had tea and cakes and just relaxed. I chatted with her parents (who are super sweet), played Cars with her little brother (lots of car crashes were involved), and watched Simon's Cat videos on Youtube with her two sisters (so hilarious). I was sad to say goodbye when the night was done.

Nacha, Azu, me, and Jo. (Azu was still in her cat costume and I in my raccoon costume).

Carnival. One big party. Fun, and not so fun. I'm not a big party girl... I like my nerdy activities such as book reading more than getting drunk. I am really glad I got to experience it though. My rule is to always try something once, and if I don't like it I don't have to do it again. And I must say that I would definitely go to Carnival next year if I had the chance. I mean come on, who would miss out on an excuse to dress up like a woodland creature?! Not this girl.