Saturday, December 25, 2021
Get out of “talk show mode”
Cologne carnivalists criticize Lauterbach
Stagnating vaccination rate, high case numbers and Omikron: It looks bad for the carnival season. Lauterbach’s idea: postpone it until summer. The Cologne Jecken are not very impressed by this. You accuse the Minister of Health of lacking knowledge of the carnival. He reacts promptly.
Cologne’s carnivalists have criticized Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach for his statements about the crazy time. “It’s a shame how little you, as a Rhinelander, know about the carnival. Otherwise you wouldn’t publicly wish for the carnival activities to be postponed to the summer,” wrote Christoph Kuckelkorn, President of the Cologne Carnival Festival Committee, in an open letter to Düren in the Rhineland born Lauterbach.
The carnival is an important and recognized cultural asset, emphasized Kuckelkorn. “And rightly so, because our customs consist of much more than wild parties and rampant alcohol consumption. Carnival is a celebration in the annual cycle like Christmas or Easter. Nobody would seriously demand all Christmas celebrations from the Christmas market to the Christmas mass to the meetings to relocate to the summer in the family circle – not even in pandemic times. “
Lauterbach responded to the allegations on Twitter. “The carnival in Cologne is also very important to me. Especially the life of the celebrants,” he wrote. Clubs should also be able to plan. However, the omicron variant of the coronavirus threatens such a massive wave that carnival under 2G conditions “is probably not safe enough”.
“I would prefer the summer carnival”
Lauterbach had given the carnivalists little hope of a normal season on Thursday in the WDR. “I can’t imagine that we can hold the carnival. And it’s not a good carnival either,” Lauterbach had explained. “What kind of carnival is it where you try to be happy, but where there is always the risk of infecting yourself or others and then possibly having to reckon with a serious illness?” He suggested moving the foolish activities to the warm season because of the impending wave of omicron virus variants. “I would actually prefer a summer carnival,” said Lauterbach.
The health minister should get out of his “talk show mode” and take the concerns of the carnival seriously, said Kuckelkorn. “What we need are no further moral appeals, but a clear stance and support for the clubs, artists, hall operators and other service providers who otherwise face bankruptcy through voluntary refusals.”
Kuckelkorn invited the minister to a meeting at the Carnival Museum in Cologne. There you should talk as soon as possible about prospects for voluntary associations, artists and other affected people. “Because in the second year of the pandemic, the topic of carnival has literally become a serious matter for many people.”