Sunflowers on a glittering blue wig, a yellow cowboy hat with a blue star stuck on it, blue and yellow dots on the face: the carnival people in Cologne and Mainz make it clear with their costumes that they are on the side of Ukraine.
Of course, there is no exuberant mood on Shrove Monday in the carnival strongholds.
However, many share the need not to want to be alone now.
Anna Schiller
volunteer.
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Markus Schug
Correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.
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The Cologne carnivalists had come to terms with the Omikron wave.
The Cologne Carnival festival committee had wanted to move the Rose Monday parade to the Rhein-Energie Stadium because of Corona.
At least 8800 spectators could have participated there.
Then the Russian army invaded Ukraine.
The "Zoch", the highlight of the Cologne street carnival, was consequently cancelled.
Instead, the festival committee organized a “peace demonstration” at short notice along the route that the Shrove Monday procession actually takes through Cologne.
The festival committee encouraged the revelers to come in disguise.
From Chlodwigplatz, the participants push their way through Severinstraße.
From time to time, music groups pass through the eye of the needle.
Then drums sounded through the street.
Around 250,000 people took part in the train in Cologne, said a spokeswoman for the festival committee of the German Press Agency at noon.
The number was determined in consultation with the police.
In the narrow streets, there is often no going back and forth in the morning.
Things became too cramped for Ulla Philipp and her husband Ulrich Rojeck.
They have switched to a quieter side street.
From her point of view, carnival and protest against the Russian invasion go together.
"Carnival has always been a parody of the military and a rebellion against the authorities," says Rojeck.
He carries a drum in front of his belly, which he decorates with blue and yellow feathers,
the colors of Ukraine.
They were "sad and shocked" by the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But they also say: "If you give in to grief, you lose the energy to move something." That's another reason why it was important to them to take part in the protest march.
After the first days of the war, many in Cologne had the desire to be with others.
"When I wake up, the first thing I do is look at the news on my cell phone," says Julian Berhorst.
"I felt the need to get out." He came with his brother Fabian and their families.
They attached yellow and blue balloons to the pram.
"We wanted to show color and send a signal for peace," says Fabian Berhorst.
The two young fathers never expected that their generation would experience a war in Europe.