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There are a lot of different traditions depending on the region, my experience is from the surrounding of the one and only capital of German carnival: Cologne. I would say it mostly consists of three parts:

• traditional events in larger halls, consisting of a mixture of music and dance groups and satirical/funny speeches in dialect. This usually starts with the beginning of the "Session" on 11 nov and ends Veilchendienstag (mardi gras), with most events being in the new year.

• the parades from Weiberfastnacht (fat thursday) until the day before Aschermittwoch. In my region, every little village/town/district (or as we call it "Veedel") has its own parade, visited also by many people from the neighboring villages. Groups usually either make music or throw sweets (called "Kamelle" in this context - with a short and intonated first "e", don't confuse it with "Kamele" with a long first "e", meaning camels). This is where I got my Schogetten.

• partying in the streets, in pubs or clubs. Mainly on 11 November and between fat thursday and mardi gras.

On the evening of mardi gras, the "Nubbel" is burned at many events - a paper figure, often displayed on pubs during the main days, and he is held responsible for every bad thing happening during carnival (e.g. if you spent all your money, kissed another person, drank too much).

I tend to stay in the suburb where I grew up and rarely go to central cologne during the main days, because it is overly crowded and many tourists and adolescents drink too much. Drinking Kölsch is a large part of carnival, but you shouldn't exaggerate it, of course :) in my suburb, I meet people where I went to school or did sports or other hobbies with in my youth. This really is one thing I look forward to every year.

I hope this helps, let me know if you would like anything else to know :)