Karneval

National pride? 1 pack Tim Tams = 6 Euros.

Yet another street-blockading, beer-swigging, booty-shaking festival on Berlin's cultural calendar, only a little over a month after the epic First of May celebrations, I hadn't afforded a thought to attending Karneval before a cold Mohito lured me there on Friday afternoon. Thanks to the initiative of my Italian friend Marcello, who suggested we move our Italian-English tandem session outdoors and enjoy the sights, at 5:30pm I was both pleasantly tipsy and impressed by rows and rows of Karneval stalls, and music performances, stretching through the leafy park in Kreuzberg.

Legally enjoying cold beer on the street

Gorilla float at parade

The festival's name is Karneval der Kulturen and takes place each year in Berlin over Pfingsten (Pentecost). According to that reliable source of all (my) knowledge, Wikipedia, this is a religious celebration "commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Christ after the Resurrection." In practical terms, in Berlin this means a long weekend and an opportunity to spend 3-4 days celebrating cultural diversity, happily coinciding with beautiful weather.

Spot of shisha at parade

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Jaded after a few tough weeks at uni and some annoying heath issues, for me Karneval couldn't have happened at a better time. It served as a spectacular reminder that studying and living in Berlin can be a vibrant and inspiring experience, and doesn't have to be all about learning the German constitution.* To mark the occasion, I even personally hacked off my hair with scissors borrowed from my housemate, in frustration and defiance of beckoning uni work. I felt lighter and more satisfied than I'd felt all week. There is very little that can top the delight of strolling around the stalls with friends, savouring a three-course meal from across three continents off paper plates, drinking beer on the streets, dancing without inhibition to whatever stirring beat you stumble across and all of this in perfect late-spring weather. All this was, without a doubt, great for the soul.

Spunky performer commands the crowd

The parade this afternoon (Sunday) was an unanticipated highlight. One of the wonderful things about being a sceptic, having low expectations and generally being reluctant to attend things that are going to involve a lot of people/get extremely messy, is that those few deviations from the routine can be so, so unexpectedly good. Hundreds of people twirled, shook, bounced, gyrated, jiggled and skipped for hours and hours through the streets and despite my measly 161cm, I could see all of it. There wasn't a milk-crate in sight.

*For those confused as to why I would subject myself to no fewer than 10 hours per week of German constitutional law, it's part of the deal-io made between Humboldt and Usyd law faculties that I do either that, criminal law or civil law. For lack of a better expression of my motivation, it seemed like the lesser of the, uh, evils, since it is mainly about studying human rights. But interesting or not, it's as hard as you'd probably expect for a non-native speaker to even understand the subject, let alone write exams. I'll keep you posted on how this one pans out.