Five ways to enjoy Mainz Fastnacht like a local

I had moved back to Germany after seven years away, and I was still putting in real effort to make friends in a city where I knew almost nobody. Then came the Saturday night of the Mainz Fastnacht, and I met the most friendly, social and hospitable Germans of my life. Halfway through the evening I caught myself wondering whether I was in Germany at all.

New expats around me had spent the whole year making the same observation in reverse: that Germans can seem reserved, that friendship takes time. Stereotypes should not be taken too seriously, and it is good to see one broken. But the change in openness during that carnival weekend was so sudden, and so warm, that the contrast was impossible to ignore.

On Carnival Sunday I woke to photographs and messages in a WhatsApp group I had only just joined, and spent the morning going back over the night before.

A Saturday night on the streets of Mainz

The streets were given over to celebration. People in soldier costumes were glad to stop and explain, between shouts of Helau, why the costumes mock France and Napoleon's soldiers — a joke with real political history behind it. Weinhaus Michel announced itself from a distance: music, singing and cheering spilling out of the door. Inside, every table was taken. My friend and I were among the few who had turned up without a reservation, so we were asked to share a table with five strangers.

We hesitated, and asked more than once whether they were sure. We need not have worried. We were met with smiles, encouragement and easy conversation. Some time later came the discovery that those five were strangers to each other as well; they had met the same way we did, by being seated together, and had become friends on the spot.

As the evening went on, ordinary diners stood up to sing and dance. People danced with the servers, and with each other, in the middle of the floor. Digestifs arrived on the house, Mano Habanero among them doing the rounds, while orders of Riesling Schorle kept piling up. Everyone knew every lyric. Dance trains wound through the restaurant. Strangers began playing cards, and before the night was out we had made plans to book the same place, at the same time, for the next Carnival.

Five things Mainz locals told me

The idea behind Fastnacht is shared across the region and in many Christian countries, but Mainz has its own timing. The Fifth Season opens at 11:11 on 11 November, as in Cologne, with a large inaugural event, and the main festivities run from Thursday to Wednesday in February. In 2024 that means 8 to 14 February. I asked a few locals how to do it properly, and their advice came down to five things.

1. Go out on Altweiber Fastnacht. The Women's Carnival starts at 11:11 on the Thursday the carnival begins, and the energy is at its peak. People have arranged days off work or school and have one item on the agenda: partying, and symbolically cutting men's ties. Schillerplatz gives a good first glimpse of what the week will be like.
2. Do not stay sober — but know your limit. Long-standing residents told me the atmosphere is easier to enjoy with a drink in hand. Pace yourself, though, or you will be finished before RosenMontag. Save something for the weekend parties, such as the Prinzengerade Ball, and for Monday's street parade.
3. Wear a costume. Costumes are as central here as in Cologne. A warm onesie will do, or something more inventive from a shop in town. With one on, the week is more fun and conversations start more easily.
4. Greet people with a Helau. It costs nothing. Say it in the street, at a party, in a restaurant or a café, and see what comes back.
5. Go with the flow. Talk to people at parades, in restaurants and on the pavement. Everyone is in a good mood and far more open than usual, which is the whole point of the week.

If you plan to stay in the city during carnival week, book your accommodation well ahead; the good rooms go early. And if you have a carnival tip of your own, add it below — or send this to someone who would enjoy the fifth season.