#helau

#helau

The ritual has been performed for at least 500 years, but nobody knows how or why it began. The ornately dressed mummers, in groups of six, polyphonically yodel and ring bells.

The evening, spearheaded by directors Sam Bardouil and Till Fellrath alongside patrons Monique Burger and Christine Würfel-Strauss, arrived at a fraught moment for Berlin, whose cultural scene faces funding cuts of roughly €130 million.

The festival of Pailhasses is one of France's most ancient carnival traditions. Celebrating the end of a longstanding rivalry with a neighbouring village, it has for more than 700 years allowed villagers to release frustrations before Lent. Its rituals are about strength, chasing and some form of attack. It is also notoriously secretive.

Because this is the year of the horse, we have to have something different. So, we are doing a chopstick dance. The chopstick dance comes from Mongolia, an area known for its large grassland areas and the historical use of horses.

We gather and parade to celebrate all that is holy: the silly, the ridiculous, the absurd; the delightful fools we are! Don yourself in garb of the fool that brings you delight and gather at Church of Clown at 11am to prepare for the parade which leaves at noon.

Sunset Mercantile and The United Irish Societies of San Francisco are joining forces to bring a cultural event to life. Join us on March 14th following the parade for live performances, food, and vendors from all across the Bay Area.

Normally, the Murphy Windmill (the largest in the world when it was built in 1908) sits majestically, but silently watching over the southwest corner of Golden Gate Park which no longer needs it to pump the 40,000 gallons of water a day it used to before electric pumps took all the glory. But on April 25, 2026, the brakes come off, and the windmill will turn once again in honor of "King's Day," an annual festival celebrating Dutch culture and traditions.

Whether it's called Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day or Mardi Gras, many countries choose to celebrate the last day before Lent by indulging in something sweet or fatty. In the UK and parts of the US, this usually means a big plate of pancakes in the morning. In Denmark there are special buns known as Fastelavnsbolle, Whether you celebrate it for religious reasons, or just because of a love of pancakes, it can be a real treat during these winter days.

Long known for its Carnival atmosphere, the RheinEnergieStadion was in real party mood after Ragnar Ache put the hosts ahead on the half-hour mark. But Bayern were in no mood for that, as Luis Díaz and Harry Kane flipped the game on its head in the space of seven minutes. Kane and Michael Olise then added gloss to the scoreline in the second half. Looking back now, that defeat was the start of a change for Köln.

"You can really push yourself to the limit, and there's a correlation between muscle power and the sound produced," he said. Matzke's appreciation for the accordion began in his childhood. Now, he serves as one of the ambassadors for the instrument of the year in 2026. "The accordion sparks the imagination. Sometimes it sounds like an orchestra with wind instruments, but you can also cover pop songs wonderfully," he told DW.

If you're in Germany long enough you'll discover another common rule that has serious reverence for Sunday, legally speaking. It's called "Sonntag Ist Ruhetag," or Sunday is rest day. If you factor in the German national love for regulations and bureaucracy, it's easy to see how peaceful downtime has become a matter of law. At first, it felt like a little quirk to get used to, but the more I experienced it the more it revealed about my inner mindset.