Most Americans recognize it from New Orleans, because drunk co-eds flashing strangers to get cheap plastic beads is really the reason for the season. It's tacky, it's totally gauche, and for some reason New Orleans seems to celebrate it year round.
In Germany, things are done a little more differently. The whole Fat Tuesday thing, unlike America's Mardi Gras revels, actually still does have a basis in history and religion.
Who's ready for the ultra-condensed version of religious history in Germay?!
Up until the 1500s, the states and kingdoms of present day Germany were Catholic. Then this dude named Martin Luther decided the system wasn't so cool and nailed some theses to a door. The stuff hit the proverbial fan and there were lots of religious wars. This was bad news for Europe and its already formed countries. England turned Protestant (except for regular Ireland), France and Italy stayed Catholic, and Denmark and up became Protestant. Russia and Ottoman Empire laughed at everyone because they were Orthodox and too cool for that.
Germany was a different story, because Germany wasn't really a country. Instead it was all these little states and kingdoms spread out. Eventually, they would form Prussia and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. While the other countries were trying to deal...
Too soon?
...Germans were stabbing each other all over the place. So eventually they got sick and tired of everyone dying and came up this brilliant solution: let the princes of each area pick which religion the people there would practice. Needless to say, this became a huge political decision (not to mention the fact that it didn't really address the problem of people killing each other). Most of Germany became Protestant and still is to this day. And some little places in the southwest Alb mountains stayed Catholic.
Which brings us back to Fasching. The still Catholic parts of Germany celebrated the last days of freedom before Lent by just well...going crazy. Wearing wooden masks based on the gargoyles of the churches, faces of witches and scary animals, revelers drove out demons and welcomed Lent.
Not be outdone, the Northern Protestant parts of Germany developed their own tradition called Carnival. When Napoleon invaded from Catholic France, Carnival fools used the that time of the year to protest their oppression without punishment. In fact, even today many political speeches and parodies of political speeches are given in Cologne (Köln, for you German lovers out there). One of the most popular costume is that of the Funkenmariechen, which is Germany making fun (surprise!) of the French military costumes.
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| In your face, France! |
During the Cold War, the Northern tradition of Carnival became a national thing for West Germany and the main cities to go to were Bonn (the capital of West Germany) and of course, Cologne. After the Berlin Wall fell and Germany became whole again, the Germans who were deprived of a reason to party finally got it and Carnival came to Berlin. Today, the places to party for Carnival are Berlin and Cologne.
But the Southwest corner of Germany forgoes that silliness and still does their own Fasching thing. Now, yes, people still dress up in funny costumes and go to Fasching parties.
But here at this blog, we are above that.
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| Yeah, right. Emily (as a cowgirl) and your Humble Blogger (as a 1920s flapper who met up with Katy Perry's hair stylist) |
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| Yikes! |
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| We're a good looking bunch! |
The costumes were the coolest part. Steffi was dressed up from the Grimm's fairy tale, the Star Taler, in a cute black dress covered in stars. Our other German friend, Clara, was one of the blue birds from Angry Birds. It was super clever and funny. The crowd in the party was an eclectic bunch - there even was a guy dressed up this super scary tiger suit! We all had a great time!
Silly costumes aside, we got a real Fasching experience during a parade in Rottenburg. The parade featured different costumed groups from towns around the area. Most of the traditional costumes feature wooden masks that are hand carved and passed down through the years. Some of the oldest masks are valued up to 3,000 Euros!
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| A little boy waiting for the parade, dressed up as the Frog Prince. Too cute! |
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| A "witch" stops to chat with his/her friends before the parade starts. |
These Fasching "fools" are called Narren. In parades they are allowed into interact with the viewers - throwing out candy or heaving glitter/confetti onto the crowd. The Narren are allowed to prank the viewers as well. If you're wearing shoes with laces, be prepared for them to untie the laces and take them! Young women, especially if they are attractive or blonde, may be snatched up and carried for a couple of yards or thrown into hay bins and toted a long for a bit. The Narren at this parade found a man with a bald spot and drew a flower on his head. Some of the groups of Narren carry sticks that have an a balloon tied to it and smack people in the crowd with it. Except it's no balloon - it's an inflated pig's bladder. Disgusting!
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| There were many groups of witches in the parade. |
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| This girl got snatched and confetti'd |
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| Poor thing. |
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| We got glitter-cannon'd too. |
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| I hate clowns. |
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| Like any good parade, this one featured many bands too! |
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| Even kids are part of the parade groups! |
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| I think these are "bears"? |
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| Ew. |
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| Okay, that's cute. |
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| The stuff of nightmares. |
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| Seriously. |
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| The witches build a pyramid. |
A lot of the costumes are based on local things - like church gargoyles, farming animals, and even vineyard leaves. At this point, you're probably wondering, what's with the bells?
Despite being super heavy and totally awkward, the parade walkers jump around with them, in time, and just keep marching. The loud noises are supposed to scare away demons. Or something like that.
So that's Fasching!
Next up: Paris!
