German carnival culminated on Rose Monday with huge parades in the cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz. Hundreds of thousands lined the streets to catch sweets and watch the marching bands and satirical floats, one of which illustrated the close relationship between Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy.Carnival Images
German carnival started in earnest last Thursday, Old Wives' Day, when women went around storming town halls and committing symbolic mass castration by cutting off the ties of all the men they come across in their rampage.
The festival reached its height on Rose Monday with the big processions. But the partying will continue on Tuesday. Parades and fancy dress balls have been going on in scores of towns and villages across the predominantly Catholic Rhineland and south-west of the country, which have come to a virtual standstill for the best part of a week.
Sadly, it will all end on Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, the Christian fasting season before Easter, when order and discipline will be restored on German streets for another year.
The carnival processions in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz are famous for their satirical floats as Germany's Catholic regions celebrate the country's version of Mardi Gras. This one in Düsseldorf purports to illustrate the close political relationship between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Ballerina Angela Merkel shielding Europe from the euro crisis with her ample tutu. The term "Rettungsschirm" on her tutu is the German expression for "bailout package".
Christian Wulff, who resigned as president on Friday following months of criticism for accepting discounts and taking free vacations with the rich and famous, gets a serious pasting. This one in Düsseldorf portrays him as a fallen, plucked eagle.
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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