Here’s just another helpless attempt in explaining what’s going on inside of me during our beloved fifth season (that’s what the people in Cologne call the carnival). This season starts with novembre 11th and ends on “Ash Wednesday”. Today starts the last week of celebration before descending into the sobriety of Lent. Which nobody does any more. At least no one who I know.
As I wrote earlier my city (Cologne) is the capital of carnival. In fact most of the regions in Germany don’t celebrate at all. But Cologne is really extreme. You can’t go shopping for groceries without stumbling into a parade of happily drunken people. Later on the shops are closed down anyway. And when everything around me is reminding me to have fun, my brain suddenly shuts down in protest…And I turn to the dark side… I simply can’t have fun when I am forced to.
Well, at least I already went shopping for groceries today, so I can happily retreat into my little troll cave. 
Frankly, judging by the various videos of this festivity I could find on the ol’ net, I’d protest as well if I was subjected to a few weeks of this kind of “fun”…
Well, it’s not all bad. There are just some aspects of the carnival here that make it more of a dread for us. That is not to say you can’t have fun with the traditions.
Originally in the 18th century the carnival in our area was directed towards the French oppression during that time and the uniforms that are worn today are derived from uniforms of the Prussian military. But I’d say it’s at least debatable if there is anything left of the notion of it all being a revolt against authorities.
An interesting idea was the “Geisterzug”, an alternative parade with quite a lot of political protest worked in, at least during the beginning of that movement. If you search for “geisterzug, köln” on a video channel of your choice, you can get some interesting results, sometimes with Halloween elements thrown in the mix. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6GDs3D-640&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL41CE7D44BC16D282
All I can think of when I see the third panel is “I’m singing in the rain”. XD
AHAH At least you’re optimistic in the rain! I’m not!