2027 Karneval (Rosenmontag)

Rosenmontag, 'Rose Monday', falls 48 days before Easter — the Monday before Ash Wednesday — and is the climax of the Rhineland Carnival in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz. The carnival season opens on November 11 at 11:11 a.m., and the street carnival begins the previous Thursday on Weiberfastnacht, when women traditionally snip off men's ties. On Rosenmontag giant satirical floats lampooning politicians roll through the streets, marching bands and costumed guards parade, and about a million spectators in Cologne shout 'Kölle Alaaf!' — 'Helau!' in Düsseldorf and Mainz — while catching Kamelle sweets and Strüßjer bouquets thrown from the floats. It is not an official public holiday, but many employers in the Rhineland give the day off and schools close, and the party continues in pubs late into the night. Hotels in the carnival cities sell out well in advance, and the festivities wind down on Ash Wednesday. This countdown ticks to midnight Central European Time in Berlin on Rosenmontag.