February 2022

February is the month of love. It is a big celebration in South Africa, but not so popular in Germany. As a rule, restaurants do not offer any special Valentines deals and neither does the Hotels. The more commercial shops will have some specials.

Karneval is also celebrated in February but due to the ongoing Covid pandemic, most Karnaval events have been cancelled for 2022. Hopefully, we can write more about it next year.

Weather

Season	Winter
Time	Central European Time (CET), one hour behind South Africa.
Weather	The temperatures average between -2.4 °C and 3.5 °C. It could get much colder, depending on the location. Snow is likely in the mountain areas. Coastal cities have a milder climate and the possibility of snow is low. The average daily sunshine is 2.7 hours.

Holiday	Date	Bundesländer
None

Observations

Date	Holiday	Information	States
14 Feb 2022	Valentines Day.	Not a big celebration in Germany	All
24 Feb 2022	Women’s Carnival / Weiberfastnach	This is a day when women can express their freedom and have a lot of fun. Tradition encourages ladies to cut men’s ties and kiss the ones they fancy.	All
26 Feb 2022	Fastnachtssamstag		All
27 Feb 2022	Fastnachtssonntag	49 days before Easter	All
28 Feb 2022	Rose Monday / Rosenmontag		All
01 Mar 2022	Fastnacht / carnival		All
02 Mar 2022	Ash Wednesday / Aschermittwoch	A Christian holy day of prayer and fasting, and the first day of Lent	All

Festivals and events

Event	Date	Information
Carnival / Fasching	Cancelled	Carnival Fastnacht_und_Fasching

School holidays and terms

Holidays Season	Date	Information
Winterferien	Depending on the Bundesland	schulferien.org Rosenmontag- most schools will be closed for the day

Karneval titbits

During Karneval, also called the fifth season, things can get a bit “Narrisch”
So what is Carnival, Fastnacht and Faching?
These are basically the same but they differ from region to region.

Fasching – Austria, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Sachsen
Fastnacht – Baden, Franconia, Hesse, Saarland, Mainz, Swabenland, Switzerland and Luxumbourg
Karneval – Rhineland: Aachen, Bonn, Köln and Düsseldorf

Carnival is a celebration of excess and includes parades, floats, dancing, formal balls, wearing costumes, noise and a lot of partying. It is the period before Lent, that starts on Ash Wednesday. Lent is a time of repentance and abstinence in preparation for Easter.

Narrenrufe
The origins of these “fools calls” are not always clear and their exact meaning is also lost in time. Most villages have their own call.
Here are some of the most well known:

Call	Where	Meaning
Helau	Mainz, Düsseldorf, Koblenz
Alaaf	Bonn and Aachen	Alles ab or everything down
Kölle alaaf	only in Köln
Wau-Wau	all over
Narri-Narro	Schwabenland	I’m a fool, your are a fool
Ahoi	Ludwigshafen and in the North
Hasi Palau	Paderborn	Die Hasen. Palau is a different form of Helau.
Alleh hopp	Saarland	Los geht’s

Narrenzunft
This is yet another version of carnival.
The local carnival clubs of the Swabian-Alemannic carnival and some of the Rhenish carnival describe themselves as fools’ guilds. These guilds are mostly organised in the legal form of a registered association (Verein).

You can find the “Zunfttermine” here.
You can find a list of the associations / Vereine here.

Snow information

You can see the snow and ski conditions on the following websites

Food and drinks to try

February is time for comfort food, such as soups, hearty stews, roasts and potatoes.
Sauerkraut and Rotkohl are still very much in season.
Carnival is of course celebrated with food and drinks! Here are some to try: