Revelers pose for photos during the Rose Monday carnival parade in Cologne, Germany, Feb. 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Shan Weiyi)
Around 12,000 participants paraded in the central part of German city Cologne and showered onlookers with sweets, chocolates and other things to celebrate Rose Monday.
COLOGNE, Germany, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Over one million revelers dressed in fancy garments took to the streets of Cologne in Germany on Monday as a grand parade was in full swing to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the city's carnival.
Revelers pose for photos during the Rose Monday carnival parade in Cologne, Germany, Feb. 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Shan Weiyi)
Around 12,000 participants, some of them in decorated floats, paraded in the central part of the city and showered onlookers with sweets, chocolates and other things to celebrate Rose Monday (Rosenmontag), which is the climax of a wide array of carnival events that start on Nov. 11 every year.
The planners of the parade changed the traditional route, which usually covered a central part of Cologne's old town.
A reveler takes part in the Rose Monday carnival parade in Cologne, Germany, Feb. 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Shan Weiyi)
At 10 a.m., the parade started on the right bank of the river Rhine, which the revelers crossed for the first time in the carnival's history. The parade lasted over three and a half hours and was followed by celebrations in bars, pubs and other places.
The celebration of carnival season, which is referred to by the locals as "the fifth season of the year," will last until Wednesday. The first Rose Monday parade took place in 1823.
Revelers watch the Rose Monday carnival parade in Cologne, Germany, Feb. 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Shan Weiyi)■
