Cologne carnival?

Question

why do people in cologne celebrating the carnival on nov.11 at 11.11h?

Answer 1

In Germany, carnival official starts on november the 11th at

11.11 am.

In cologne and mainz (sorry, i don´t know, if there´s a official english name for mainz), peope start party on this day.

Answer 2

It's Hoppeditz awakening.....

http://www.karneval-in-duesseldorf.de/th...

Answer 3

They call it the "season" or "Session" [approx. engl. pron.: "say-sea-on"]: Carnival starts at Nov11th at 11:11h traditionally, and ends on Ash Wednesday (Aschermittwoch) which will be early in 2008, 6th of February. Two days before, there's Rose Monday (Rosenmontag) with all the Carnival festivitities going on in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Mainz, and several other cities.

Actually, it's a heathen tradition, but the dates are calculated according to the Roman calendar. Ash Wednesday is 46 days before Easter, which is a catholic holiday, but is calculated by the spring equinox and the full moon. So, you see?