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The immigrant experience

PHOTOS: CHITRA DEEPA A.

FOSTERING UNITY The Karneval der kulturen

The ambience of Berlin during the Whitsun weekend (from May 29 to June 1) transports you to a different realm altogether.

The carnival of cultures is an electrifying event, a street festival that infuses a riot of colours into this city’s otherwise grey facade.

With colourfully-decorated floats, masks and ethnic and artistic costumes, over 4,500 performers — skaters, stilt walkers, acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers, singers and dancers — converge for the 14th edition of the annual event in Kreuzberg district. The carnival was first organised in 1996 to celebrate the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic character of Berlin. This time around, an astounding 1.45 million visitors came in.

The presence of a large number of people from across the world makes Berlin a unique city. Interestingly, soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, many artists (painters and musicians) from around the world chose to live in Berlin. This enriched the cultural scenario of Berlin and also led to the evolution of an alternative culture that Kreuzberg is well-known for. Therefore, a few years after the Wall came down, Berliners came up with the idea of celebrating the cultural and ethnical diversity of their city.

This is a year of many important celebrations in Germany — the Euro turned 10 in January, the city is all geared to celebrate the 20th anniversary of fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Federal Republic of Germany celebrates its 60th anniversary. It was in this context that the carnival gained importance this year.

“The carvinal has been successful from the year it was launched,” says Dr. Ulla Peitz, a retired doctor and a long-time resident of the city. “The hidden treasures of international culture are well presented during this summer festival. It is during such a festival that Berliners get to know that people from over 70 nationalities live in harmony with them.”

The highlight of the four-day festival is the street parade that takes place on the second day of the festival.

On the other days, there are live music concerts, food stalls, display of arts and crafts, and a children’s carnival.

“Every Berliner participates in this impressive festival in a different way — dancing on the streets along with the parade, having a barbecue party in Kreuzberg or meeting friends at one of the pubs,” says media professional Annika Schlee, who plays cricket on weekends. A cricket lover in a football-crazy nation, a tradition left behind by the British!

Berlin-based journalist Peter Prufert says this unique festival is a wonderful institution. “It shows how well different people have integrated without having lost their identity.”

The street parade begins at Hermannplatz and passes through Sudstern, Blucherplatz and Geniesenaustrasse and ends at Yorksrtasse.

This year’s theme was ‘Economic Crisis’, and the participants presented the way the crisis manifested itself in their respective countries.

The traditional Brazilian group Afoxe Loni, with its members dressed in yellow and sprinkling flowers to ward off evil, followed by samba dancers, inaugurated the parade — the tradition every year.

And, Spanish dancers wearing traditional south-German Bavarian outfits performed salsa! Ethnic music from Latin America, singers and performers from Africa, salsa, samba, tango and bolero dancers from Spain, drummers from Africa, Korea and Japan, DJs playing music, Bollywood music and dance....the parade gave a glimpse of each nation’s culture and ethos.

Werkstatt der Kulturen, an organisation based in Neukoeln, initiates and organises the carnival.

The carnival of cultures is of great importance to Berlin’s immigrant population, as people from all over the world get together proclaiming to the world their spirit of tolerance and mutual respect.

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