Düsseldorf postpones carnival parade until May due to COVID

The city of Düsseldorf has opted to postpone its Rose Monday (Rosenmontag) carnival parade, which usually comes at the end of February, to the beginning of May, citing concerns about coronavirus. 

Düsseldorf carnival parade postponed to May 8, 2022

Responding to rapidly-rising coronavirus cases, a number of German cities are already shying away from carnival celebrations. The city of Leverkusen announced this week that it was cancelling all carnival parades planned for February because control measures simply could not be upheld. It was previously suggested that celebrations would take place under 2G plus conditions. 

The Düsseldorf Carnival Committee doesn’t want to take such a drastic step, and so it has announced a compromise: it is postponing the parade from February 28 to May 8, 2022. By this point, committee president Michael Laumen said, “We all assume that we will have overcome the fourth corona wave.” 

By simply extending the carnival season for another three months, the committee hopes to harness the power of the warmer weather to help avoid COVID infection risks. All of the carnival associations have the choice of whether to postpone their events planned for January and February 2022 or cancel them. “We see this as a real opportunity to keep the carnival alive and still celebrate,” said vice-president Stefan Kleinehr. 

Cologne says other Rhenish cities were not consulted

In neighbouring Cologne, however, reaction to the plan has been lukewarm at best. The Cologne Carnival Festival Committee said that Düsseldorf did not square the plan with them before announcing it, and have expressed their surprise and irritation: “This procedure was not coordinated with the four Rhenish carnival cities of the intangible cultural heritage.” 

The Cologne committee has refused to postpone its carnival season to the spring, stating that to do so would only serve to further the commercialisation of carnival. They have said they still can’t rule out a complete cancellation.