VIII. Gay Games Cologne 2010

Cologner Carnival

While the whole world knows four seasons, namely spring, summer, fall and winter, Cologne even knows a fifth one: the Carnival. Actually this time of the year is a time where all clocks go a bit differently from Mainz the Rhine downwards to Cologne and beyond. Starting on  11/11 at 11:11 AM up til Ash Wednesday – with a break for the Advent and the Christmas Season -  the Cologner is "Jeck" that is to say crazy. Like no other German population group the Rhinlanders are said to have a special penchant to "humor, wine, woman, and singing". Every district of Cologne – and there are 86 of them after all – has its own carnival society tradition. All greater and sports halls in Cologne are being outbooked since months and over weeks, because carnival is called for. There is also a gay carnival, namely the pink sessions, which take place in the „Mülheimer Kulturbunker“. From Women´s Carnival Day on Thursday to Ash Wednesday the Carnival goes out of the halls to the streets and hundreds of corner pubs. Cologne reaches a state of emergency. Everywhere there's dressing up, swaying to the music, dancing, singing and drinking. No eye remains dry and what is strictly forbidden otherwise is now allowed. Cologne is simply different then!  www.koelnerkarneval.de