Cologne Carnival’s Rose Monday Parade, scheduled for February 16, promises to be as scandalous as usual. The procession consists of 120 floats, including “persiflage floats” ā€” satirical, mocking floats that are the centerpiece of the event.Ā
As usual, some of the world’s major politicians will be symbolically roasted. Float builders tend to use the occasion to make movable works of art that are humorous yet scathing social and political critiques. Parade director Marc Michelske presented some of the Cologne Festival Committee’s float themes in the lead-up to this year’s carnival.
Donald Trump exposed
Sketches of four of the floats were previewed to the public in advance. One of them depicts Donald Trump looking into a mirror, grinning,Ā his bare bottom exposed and covered in kiss marks.
“We asked ourselves why so many people bow down to Donald Trump, and Trump himself has said, ‘They’re kissing my ass,'” Michelske explainedĀ in an interview with DW. “Such statements and behavior are easy to turn into images.”
The kiss marks bear the names of prominent people and organizations, including the European Union, FIFA, the United Nations, German ChancellorĀ Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron.
“Trump always hits below the belt, as he does with all issues. It’s very low, especially for a president of the United States, and this is the best way we could represent that,ā€¯ saidĀ Michelske. As parade director, he’s in charge of planning the persiflage floats together with a creative team. He also directs float construction with the help of many assistants and creates safety plans for the parade with his deputy.Ā
Secrecy surrounding the floats
The Cologne Festival Committee is one of the few carnival organizations that presents its floats before the Rose Monday parade. In contrast, the DĆ¼sseldorf Carnival floats are kept a secret until the day of the big event.
“That means that whatever nasty things we come up with will actually be paraded, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it,” float builder Jacques Tilly said in a recent interview with DW.
Time and again, institutions and individuals have tried to prevent Tilly’s carnival floats from participating in DĆ¼sseldorf’s Rose Monday parade.Ā
Michelske, on the other hand, believes it is important to present the floats to the public in advance.Ā “It’s not a secret, and things should be presented and explained to the public.” That’s part of it, he said. “It helps us to be able to talk about what we associate with a float ā€” on Rose Monday that’s usually no longer possible for us.”
A warning against the AfD
While the float featuring Donald Trump is self-explanatory, the float featuring a large blue cobra might need a bit of decoding. It is a denouncement ofĀ Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and is particularly close to Michelske’s heart.
The villainous snake named Kaa from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book is depicted in light blue, the official color of the AfD, and wrapping itself around a young person. “Kaa tried to wrap himself around the boy Mowgli and hypnotize him, and we see this happening right now,” Michelske pointed out.
Many people are blinded by the promises of the AfD, he said. “But you have to talk to these people, not just denounce them,” Michelske emphasizes. “Mowgli didn’t manage to do it alone either. We have to help people break out of this hypnosis, then we can really tackle the problem. That’s what democracy is all about.”
The topics of this year’s floats are wide-ranging: One depicts a boy with a cell phone wearing an oversized military helmet. This is an allusion to a proposal to reinstitute compulsory military service in Germany: Young men could be drafted back into military serviceĀ without really knowing what to expect.
Then there’s one of a guillotine covered in blood with “US tariffs” written on it and the US flag as the blade.
Another features a rabbit labeled “EU” carrying heavy weights under the watchful eyes of the US, represented as an eagle, Russia, as a bear, and China, as a panda. It’s accompanied by text saying that the EU will manage even without the powerful.Ā
No float for Putin
There isn’t a float featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin planned for this year’s parade in Cologne. But not because the organizers are afraid of suffering the same fate as DĆ¼sseldorf float builder Jacques Tilly, who has been taken to court by the Russian state for his satirical Putin float.
“We definitely stand in solidarity with him; fools must be free,” says Michelske, referencing the tradition of affectionately describingĀ carnival participants as “fools.” He’s convinced that Tilly will find the right response to these attacks on freedom of speech with a new float this year.
“We’ll support his response by simply saying that he has made the best float for this, and that’s how it will be,” he says, adding that Cologne will deferĀ to DĆ¼sseldorfĀ with regard to a Putin-related float.
Revelers in another of Germany’s carnival strongholds, the city of Mainz, have also declared their solidarity with Tilly as he stands up to the Russian authorities. “We will not be intimidated or deprived of our humor. Foolish criticism knows no bounds and cannot be banned,” reads a statement put out by the Mainz carnival associations.
A homage to the volunteers
The motto of this year’s Rose Monday parade in Cologne is, “Mer dun et fƶr Kƶlle,” which translates roughly asĀ “We’re doing it for Cologne.” It pays homage to the city’s volunteers, especially those involved in carnival.
Symbolizing this is a group of 250 volunteer singers from more than 30 Cologne choirs of all generations and a 50-piece orchestra of volunteer musicians that will lead the Rose Monday parade. A little music to go with the satire.
This article has been translated from German.