Carnival: What is Rosenmontag in the Rhineland?

The Rose Monday is especially in the Rhineland carnival the culmination of Carnival, often accompanied with the Rosenmontagszug (Rose Monday Parade). It falls on the Monday before Ash Wednesday, 48 days before Easter Sunday. In carnival strongholds such as Koblenz, Cologne, Dusseldorf and Mainz the Rose Monday is a traditional holiday for employees though not supported in any law and nowadays many do have to take an official holiday to stay away from work.

After Napoleon had stopped rigorously the Rhineland carnival, according to the Vienna Congress of 1815 the Carnival should be reformed. This was based on the committee founded on 6 November 1822 in Cologne that held  an annual general meeting on the Mondays after the fourth Sunday of Lent," Laetare ", (ie four weeks after Carnival).


Since the 11th century Sunday "Laetare" is also called Rose Sunday, a day when the Pople gave a golden rose to an honored personality. So, Rose Sunday is the Sunday after 4 weeks of carnival celebrations.

The first carnival parade (Karnevalszug) took place on 10 Feb 1823 in Cologne, Düsseldorf started in 1825 and Mainz in 1838.

Because of the escalation of the Gulf war in 1991 there were no parades, especially in the capitals of carnival like Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz.

The date of the Rose Monday is always 48 days before Easter Sunday. The earliest date is 2 February and the latest is 8 March.This video is from my hometown Düsseldorf, 07 March 2011:

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