Karneval 2016 (Schull-und Veedelszöch)

I’ve blogged about Karneval a few times already. This post has lots of information about Karneval in Köln. Other Karneval posts can be found here and here.

This year we decided to check out the Schull-und Veedelszöch- a Karneval parade especially for kids. Most of the schools in Köln are represented. Every school chooses a theme and the school kids make their own floats and costumes. Quinnie and Kiera’s school was in the parade. We could have signed them up to march in the parade, but all of the meetings required to plan and make the float and costumes were too much of a time commitment for us with our current schedules.

This is the perfect parade to bring kids to. The past few years we went to the larger, crazier Rosenmontag parade, where you really have to watch out for your kids. I can’t even tell you how many times a drunk adult elbowed our kids out of the way to get candy that the girls were reaching for.

Their costumes this year: Quinnie was a raven for the parade and a Native American for her school party.

Kiera was (surprise!) a dragon (just like she was for Halloween and her birthday).

Mama and Papa were pretty lame about costumes (again) this year. I just borrowed one of the girls’ masks from their dress-up bin. We really need to step up our game (you wouldn’t believe how elaborate the costumes are at Karneval)!

On the way to the parade. Quinnie waiting patiently while Papa helps Kiera with a costume malfunction.

I love this photo of Kiera skipping in her costume. It reminds me of a drawing of Max from the book “Where the Wild Thing Are.”

We met up with some friends. Here’s Quinnie with Rachel, Noémie, and Antonia.

We got there just in time for the beginning of the parade. This sign says that 49 schools are represented in the parade. You’ll see LOTS of red and white at the parade/ at Karneval time – they are Cologne’s official colors.

The Dom

Here’s our friend Kristel with Edelweiss flowers and a big German pretzel in her hair (she also wore a Dirndl!).

 

 

kids scrambling to get the candy on the ground…

SO MANY excellent marching bands

bookworms 🙂

candy being thrown

Simon and Daniel made quite a few trips to stock up on Kölsch for us..

..which I really appreciated 🙂 . And there’s Kiera searching on the ground for candy.

globe showing partner cities of Köln

A model of the golden coffins that contain the remains of the 3 wise men (that are in the Kölner Dom).

And of course Kölsch must be represented!! I asked Simon why there were beer floats in a school parade, and he said, “You can drink at 16 here- Kölsch and school totally go together!”

The Dreigestirn (the Prince, the farmer, and the virgin) were represented. This is a nod to the last float of the larger Rosenmontag parade (where real people play the 3 characters).

The Dreigestirn (from 2013)

the coat of arms of the city of Köln

Kiera was pretty upset about the state of her dragon toenails/ talons after wearing her costume almost every day for a week.

After the parade we went to Kristel and Daniel’s place to party some more. The kids had fun watching movies…

…and gorging on the candy they collected at the parade (this is only a very small portion of it!).

The adults drank lots more Kölsch. Here’s me with my Kölscher Jung 🙂 .

Below are 3 short videos Simon took of the Geisterzug he and Quinnie went to one night (Kiera didn’t want to go, so I stayed home with her). The Geisterzug is a more free-form Karnevalzug (parade). You don’t have to be a member of any Karneval club or pay any money to participate. It looks so fun- I definitely want to go next year!

 

 

 

 

Simon took this short video of one of the many Karneval parades from his office window.