Over the weekend of May 13-15, the Karnival Der Kultur took place in the center of Berlin in the Kreuzberg neighborhood. In the days leading up to it, we had received plenty of prior notice about just how big and crazy this can get. The biggest party of the year was not to be taken lightly, if you didn’t want a large crowd, then you were to avoid this at all costs. I didn’t know what to expect when I caught the train to Halleches Tor on the first night. The train was noticeably packed, but nothing unusual for a Friday night. However, once I got off that rain and followed the crowd, things quickly unfolded. Heading up the stairs, I could hear the Karnival before I could see it. The reggae/rap music was echoing throughout the station walls as the crowds quickly became congested. I reached the top of a stairway, and another crowd of people from another direction converged on us. It took a good five minutes just to get out of the station, shoulder to shoulder, inching forward, everyone in town had come out apparently. I didn’t know the half of it.
Once I managed to get out of the station I was able to find wiggle room and was able to walk at a more leisurely pace, every where you went, though, there were people around you. The first thing I saw was a stage with music playing, the bazaar stage it was called, I had read about it earlier and it appeared to be the main stage of the whole thing. But this didn’t mean a whole lot, here were music stages everywhere, each one playing its own genre of music with its own cultural influence. There was a stage with Latino/Hispanic music, there was German music, various nationalities of African music, Jamaican music, Country music, Rock music, Electro, you name it. All of the various cultures of Berlin had come together at this one place, for this one weekend for everyone to experience. It didn’t end with the music, however. Everywhere there were kiosk with foods influenced by different nationalities and cultures, as well as clothing and other homemade antiques such as wood carvings and jewelry. If anyone is familiar with Folklife in Seattle, this was like that, only on crack.
I cannot imagine how many tens of thousands of people were there. Possibly even hundreds of thousands. Everywhere I went, the Karnival just expanded further and further, once you entered, it just never ended. The crowds of people kept the moving slow, so you had to take shortcuts behind tents if you wanted to get anywhere fast. I wanted to get a pictures for just how big this Karnival was, and I found myself walking for hours just figuring out where the borders were. On a map, it looked so small, but Berlin is a big city, and these were some open streets, and they were all just packed.
I had heard the the Karnival almost did not happen this year, due to the levels of garbage and waste and glass that accumulates. After spending only one night there, this is very obvious to see. There was broken glass everywhere. Trash lined the street curbs, and the garbage cans were overflowing. Is there no way to keep this from happening when bringing large groups of people like this together all the time? One place I went to certainly tried. I went to an Ethiopian food kiosk and ordered a bread rice and sauce dish. I had no idea what it was called, but it looked good, and I wanted to try something new. In the process of purchasing the food, I noticed that I was charged an extra 2 euro. I looked at the change and hesitated to walk away. The man said something to me, yet I couldn’t understand at all. He repeated again, pointing at the food, and again when I looked at it. Then I heard the word teller, plate in German, then I understood. The was a 2 euro deposit for the plate that the food was on, it wasn’t a paper plate, it was ceramic, and we would get the deposit back when we brought the plate back. Good for them. Rather than a wasteful paper plate, they were trying to renew and conserve as much as possible. I had experienced this earlier when I went to the Hertha/Munich game, a 2 euro deposit was required for the plastic mugs for beer. Smart.
One of the more notable experiences of that first night was a large drum circle that had been formed. People were all crowding around this group of people, who were dispersed amongst the crowd, continually playing a fast paced beat that you couldn’t help but shake your body to. It was less of a dance and more of a rhythm. I pushed my way through to get as close to the drummers as possible. There were a couple guys who weren’t playing instruments but were holding up there hands and blowing whistles to direct the drummers. It was interesting to see that such basic and almost primitive sounds, when joined together in harmony like so, could be so pleasant and exciting and draw such a crowd.
That was the first night.
The next day, I played some pickup ball with a group of guys, all of whom were from South America. So I had to trade not understanding any German to not understanding any Spanish. Oh my god it was so much fun, but this is another story for another time. Anyway I hung out with them after we played and it turns out that one of them was in a band that was going to be playing at the bazaar stage at 8pm at the Karnival that night. I would be sure to go to that. I tried to arrive a little early, but everything was so busy that I ended up being a little late, so they were already playing when I got there. The guy I played with, Rodrigo, was actually the lead singer of the band. He, like many of the guys I played with, was Columbian, and he sang in Spanish and addressed the crowd in German. He was an entertainer too, he got everyone to clap there hands and sings lyrics, and even start bending over and getting low to the ground before bringing them back up, impressive. I looked around for some of the other players, but couldn’t find any, with the crowd that bug it was hopeless anyway. Afterwards, when the band had finished and the crowd dispersed momentarily to make way for the next band coming on, I realized that all the guys I knew were literally in the front row the whole time. No wonder I couldn’t find them. The rest of the night was spent similar to the first, mostly just exploring the different kiosks and listening to different music. Two things of note though. Many of the African, I don’t know which nationalities, kiosks served fruit flavored beers. Banana beers and orange and pinapple beers, these were new to me, I never knew they existed. Secondly, there was a large church inside the boundaries of the Karnival. This struck me as odd, I wouldn’t expect a place of worship to be home to such a hectic atmosphere. And it wasn’t. When I went inside, there were seats everywhere, people could go up the stairs and watch from up above, near a giant organ, and everyone listened quietly as soothing, melodic violin and stringed instruments were played. Quite different from just outside the door.
The third day was the day of the parade. Ross, his mom, Ian and I all went to an FC Union game before hand, again different story, before coming back and catching the parade in full swing. Gneisenaustrasse, which our school had been on, was completely filled. Floats were slowly driving by. We decided to follow the flow of the crowd and tag along behind various floats, each with their different themes. At some point I found a coconut on the ground, one which had served as someone’s beverage. I began kicking it around, back and forth with Ian and Ross, and other people soon joined in. Soon we were darting through crowds kicking this coconut around, getting all kinds of people to join in. That’s what I’m talking about! Football is universal, everyone loves it, it’s a great times, it’s fun, it is part of culture, it is its own culture. Only the police wouldn’t join in. I, foolishly attempted to meg an officer, and he yelled at me and I almost got arrested. No more of that. The coconut didn’t last long, someone eventually smashed it and the fun was over. As the night went on, different stages were still performing music and large groups were huddled around them. I eventually got tired and made my way to my hostel, which I had cleverly booked only a couple blocks away.
