The Düsseldorfer Karneval is the Düsseldorf variant of the "fifth season" known as carnival. The Düsseldorf carnival begins on 11 November each year with the symbolic awakening of the and ends on Ash Wednesday of the following year with his burial. The period of carnival is called the Carnival session and marks a high point in the social life of the state capital with numerous sittings and balls. Together with the events in Cologne and Mainz, the is one of the largest in Germany. Its annual television broadcast made it known nationwide.
History
The beginnings of the Düsseldorf Carnival
Already in ancient times, there were festivities in which disguise, increased alcohol consumption or parades played a role. Whether the origins of the Rhenish carnival can possibly be traced back to the Roman Saturnalia, which were also celebrated in the then Roman Rhineland, cannot be proven. However, numerous elements can be found there that still characterise today's carnival, such as the abolition of class distinctions, the increased consumption of alcohol, the loosening of morals and parades in the streets.
The origins of the Düsseldorf carnival have not been handed down. The first report of carnival celebrations in the Düsseldorf Castle on the occasion of Shrovetide dates back to 1360. It was there that the berg and jülichsche Nobility. The Düsseldorf historian Friedrich Lau assumes that carnival was also celebrated in bourgeois circles as early as the 15th century. In the 16th century, carnival celebrations were so entrenched in Düsseldorf customs that the sick in the were given an allowance for the "vastelavent". While masquerade balls according to Venezian model were celebrated at the Düsseldorf court, especially during the time of the Elector Jan Wellem, the celebrations of the subjects, especially of the lower social classes, were of a more raucous nature. According to a description by the Düsseldorf regional poet Hans Müller-Schlösser, many Düsseldorf citizens found the carnival at the beginning of the 19th century vulgar and noisy. In its form at the time, carnival was also suspect to the authorities. Due to the carnival regulations of 1806 issued by King Maximilian I, the jesters had to acquire a "police card" in order to be allowed to be in public dressed up or masked. Under French rule, carnival was largely banished to enclosed spaces.
After the end of the French period, now under Prussian rule in the Rhineland, the carnival amusements also shifted back to the public streets and squares in the city. Carnival events were held on the days from Sunday to Tuesday. In 1825, for example, these fell on 13 to 15 February. During this time, masquerade balls were held in public establishments and events were held in public houses with musical entertainment. One of the highlights were the public amusements on Tuesday on Carlsplatz. Police regulations regarding floats and horseback riding had to be observed especially for this Tuesday. Also in 1825, a "Carnevals-Comité", forerunner of today's , was formed in Düsseldorf, following the example of the founded in 1823. The "Comité", which was responsible for the festivities, was supported by respected citizens of the city, including numerous artists, with the aim of giving the carnival an orderly structure and also making it attractive for the better classes.
The oldest Düsseldorf carnival society is the Carnevalsverein pro 1829, which later changed its name to Allgemeiner Verein der Carnevals-Freunde. This society was founded on 8 February 1829 in the Hofgartenhaus from an exclusively male association that had been meeting loosely since 1826. Since its foundation, the association was banned by the authorities several times for political reasons. In 1844, the Düsseldorf District President even had the association dissolved. After the re-admitted association had begun in 1846 to send artistically designed honorary certificates appointing honorary members to liberal personalities, among others to Ernst Moritz Arndt and to Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann, the Prussian Minister of the Interior Ernst von Bodelschwingh-Velmede demanded the renewed prohibition of the association in 1847, whose president in 1846 and 1847 was the painter Adolph Schroedter.
The modern carnival in Düsseldorf
It can be traced back in Düsseldorf at least to 1833. After a masquerade on Burgplatz, the "engagement of Hanswursten to Anna Dorothea Petronella Weichbusen" was celebrated in the evening under Helau und Habuh.