On Shrove Monday, the floats will once again pull through the carnival strongholds on the Rhine. However, there will be fewer catches along the roadside in some places. Some carnival clubs state that they take less throwing material on board the floats – thanks to the galloping price increases.
Those who stand on the side of the road on the Rose Monday procession in a good two weeks could get a little fewer camels this year than a few years ago. Because sweets have become more expensive, some train passengers don’t carry as much as they used to. It has become a little less, according to the Düsseldorf carnival society Weissfräcke, for example. At the Grosse Braunsfelder Karnevalsgesellschaft from Cologne, the foot group ordered ten percent fewer camels – on the other hand, there is the same amount of throwing material on the moving van as in 2020.
It’s not just about sweets, but also stuffed animals and flowers. All in all, the throwing material was about 30 percent more expensive than in 2020, said Braunsfeld carnivalist Marcus Buckenmaier. The “Strüßjer”, for example, would have been 20 percent more expensive and the stuffed animals by 75 percent. Kamelle actually means small chewy candies that sometimes stick stubbornly to your teeth when you eat them. In the meantime, it has become an umbrella term for all sweets that are distributed at the Shrove Monday procession.
There are no total figures for the decline in carnival sweets, as the different carnival societies ordered them individually. The situation is not uniform: Some Cologne companies emphasize that they want to distribute the same amount of sweets and flowers, despite the rise in prices. The Aachen Carnival Festival Committee also confirmed that the purchase of sweets had become more expensive. There are certainly some groups and clubs that have bought less because of this, said the President of the Committee, Frank Prömpeler. “Price inflation has probably had an impact.” On the other hand, the same amount was bought for the party committee’s own car as before. “There will be a lot of throwing and there will also be a lot of catching,” Prömpeler is certain.
