Edition 2025
Finished
Free
Brass band
Street arts
Cabaret
Zug der fröhlichen Leute Cottbus
Cottbus — Kreisfreie Stadt Cottbus (12052)
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16 Feb 2025
Edition
2025
2025
Edition 2025 — Finished
Edition 2025 — Zug der fröhlichen Leute
The 32nd edition of the Zug der fröhlichen Leute paraded through Cottbus city center in mid-February 2025. Over 60 floats from Lusatia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt brought political satire, regional jokes, and carnival classics to Spremberger Straße. Thousands of spectators lined the route, the grandstand in front of the Staatstheater was sold out, and Cottbus once again showed that carnival has its own powerful tradition east of the Elbe.
In February 2025, the 32nd Zug der fröhlichen Leute took place in cool but dry carnival weather — filling Cottbus city center with thousands of carnival enthusiasts from Lusatia, the Spreewald, Berlin, and Saxony. The floats lined up at Berliner Platz in the late morning, and the parade set off from 1:11 PM.
The themes in 2025 ranged from the federal election to the Lusatian structural change and local jokes about FC Energie and Cottbusverkehr. The guards and dance groups performed their rehearsed choreographies, the marching bands provided the necessary noise, and the candy flew generously — four hours of city carnival, which ended with a traditional Cottbus handshake in front of the Staatstheater.