Carnival season is open!

Carnival has begun! – at least in the Netherlands and Germany, where November 11th marks the start of the Carnival season. At 11 minutes past 11, to be precise. There are various explanations of origins of this apparently strange timing, including the co-incidence with the timing of the end of the First World War. But the most logical explanation seems to be that 11 is the ‘fool’s number’, stuck between the more usual 10 and 12.

Carnival season 2026 is open!

Whatever the explanation, it seems that 11/11 is becoming more popular with those who want to start celebrating Carnival as soon as possible. News reports suggest that 100,000 people are expected to celebrate in the Dutch city of Den Bosch today, and other cities such as Breda, Tilburg, Roermond and Maastricht are also expecting to be very busy – even though November 11th falls on a Tuesday. It seems that the desire to celebrate Carnival has grown since the Covid pandemic, with people keen to party and celebrate with friends and family after cancelled events in 2021 and 2022.

Carnival participation in Brazil (ATLAS Carnival Project)

This is also reflected in our research on Carnival celebrations, which has been ongoing since 2015. The proportion of people celebrating Carnival recovered very quickly from the pandemic, and in Brazil we now see levels of participation higher than in 2019.Perhaps events like Carnival will provide an antidote to the growing use of screens in our leisure time?