Re: New in Köln

[Peter Korsten]

Op 26-1-2016 om 10:55 schreef K9 Kai Niggemann:
> I was never into Karneval, but had a hunch that in this city you can't entirely avoid it -- I never dreamed that I'd be a part of it, basically  the second month we live here... ;-)

Ah, you're probably from Prussia then? That figures. :)

For those not in the know, in Europe there are basically two kinds of 
Carnival: the Burgundian tradition and the Rhineland tradition. In the 
Netherlands, they celebrate both kinds: in the province of Brabant, they 
have the Burgundian kind, and in Limburg (next to the German border) the 
Rhineland tradition.

There are plenty of resources on the web to tell you about the 
differences between the two, but one of the hallmarks of the Rhineland 
tradition is wearing spoof military uniforms (Google for "Tanzmariechen" 
to get an idea). They introduced this to make fun of the militaristic 
Prussians - hence my joke towards Kai.

I've been to the Amiga Expo in Cologne on the 11th of November, and 
you'll see clown orchestras in the railway station on that day. They 
take Carnival very seriously in Cologne, as paradoxical as that may sound.

As someone who grew up a mere 30 km from NRW, we got the WDR television, 
and Carnival in Mainz and Cologne were staple. I also happen to have 
absolutely no problem understanding Kölsch (the local dialect, not the 
beer) because it's in the same language family as my native Limburgish. 
Also comes in handy if you want to understand the lyrics of BAP, such as 
"Kristallnaach".

So... I think you should prepare yourself for a silly amount of fun and 
good times. :)

- Peter