Germans Eager to See Whose Parade a Carnival Float Will Rain On

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Alison Smale
Jacques Tilly, a well-known float builder, with one of his designs on Monday in Düsseldorf, Germany. Politicians are popular targets at the Carnival parade. Credit Gordon Welters for The New York Times
GERMANY---Carnival here hardly shares the fame of the colorful, dancing celebrations in Rio de Janeiro, or of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Outside Germany, it is something of a secret that the cities and towns in the Rhine river valley go wild, too. But for five days starting on Thursday, up to one million people will swill beer and take to the streets here, as well as in Cologne and Mainz. Using art to take aim at politicians and other powers that be is a tradition born of nearly two centuries of Carnival satire in the Rhineland of Germany. [link]

Float sketches by Mr. Tilly. Credit Gordon Welters for The New York Times