In the night from Violet Tuesday to Ash Wednesday, the cloth figure is therefore burnt everywhere in the Rhineland. Elsewhere it is also called Zacheies (in the Cologne area), Lazarus (in Jülich) or Bacchus (in the Ruhr area).

The name Nubbel, which is common in Bonn, comes from the Rhenish dialect and refers to a person who cannot or should not be named: Thus the term "Nubbel Chris" can be translated as "someone" and "dä es beim Nubbel" means something like "he is somewhere". Nowadays, the Nubbel stands for all carnival revellers. He is traditionally the scapegoat for all the mistakes and misdemeanours that the carnival revellers have committed during Lenten Carnival.

While the Nubbel usually hangs above the doors of the pubs during carnival, it is taken down and burnt at midnight on the night of Shrove Tuesday to Ash Wednesday. Before that, however, the Nubbel is put on trial. For this, a Jeck dressed as a clergyman reads the indictment in front of an audience. In the indictment, the Nubbel is accused of all the misdemeanours committed during the carnival days. At the beginning, the audience defends him against the accusations, but at some point the mood changes.

To rhetorical questions from the false clergyman such as "Who is to blame that we have drunk and boozed too much?" or "Who is to blame that we are now sick and poor?" the crowd responds with a boisterous "The Nubbel!" or "Dat wor der Nubbel!". Once the Nubbel's guilt has been established, the straw figure is burned. Since the Nubbel takes all the blame on himself, those present are thus symbolically absolved of their previously committed transgressions. Afterwards, there is one last dance and dance before the carnival officially ends the next day.

Just as the name of the Nubbel differs from region to region, the traditional purification of the carnival participants through the death of the straw figure can also vary from region to region. In Jülich, for example, the so-called Lazarus is not burned, but first whirled through the air on a jumping cloth and then ceremoniously drowned in the Rur. The Nubbel also appears outside carnival, for example as a guard at the funfair, which is also burnt at the end of the festivities.

The original tradition of burning the Nubbel can be traced back to the beginning of the 19th century. Even from that time there are records of funeral ceremonies at the end of Carnival in Cologne. Most likely, the role of Nubbels or Zacheies can be traced back to the biblical figure of the tax collector Zacchaeus. According to the story, Zacchaeus incurred great guilt by enriching himself with the customs duties.

While the burning of the Nubbel is traditionally celebrated in various public places, especially in Cologne, the burning of the Nubbel has become less frequent in Bonn. Those who wanted to attend a Nubbel burning had to go to Cologne yesterday. There, the burning took place this year not only in front of a large number of pubs, but in honour of the 200th anniversary of the Cologne Carnival, a "Great Nubbel Burning" was held for the first time on Roncalliplatz near Cologne Cathedral.

Original text: Nicholas Mitja

Translation: Mareike Graepel