For the past couple of weeks, we have been seeing people dressed in old wooden costumes, jingling bells and making ruckus while walking down the street. For us, American tourists, we were very confused by this scene. We were even more confused when the people around us didn’t stop and gawk at the people in masks and the shenanigans they were up to. This confusion was a common occurrence for a few weeks until we finally found the answer we were looking for: Carnival.
Wooden Mask of a Federahannes
Carnival has been a tradition in Germany dating back to the Middle Ages. In German it is called Fasnet. Fasnet starts during Epiphany and progresses through February up until Ash Wednesday and when Lent begins. The last few days are when the fools (the carnival characters) really go all out. There are parades where the characters either give candy to the kids singing the traditional songs, or they tease the audience if they aren’t dressed in costume or if they are American college students studying abroad. The tradition of the characters goes back to the guilds and range from mischievous Federahannes to the friendly Gschell. These characters all line up for a parade and are accompanied with local bands and the festival continues throughout the day.
Federahannes teasing the crowd
As a class, we went to Fasnet in Rottweil, where we were definitely exposed to this unknown tradition. When we first arrived, we ate a good old traditional lunch that consisted of a bratwurst and mulled wine. We watched as the parade started to get into formation and made our way to the front of the crowd. For the first half of the parade, we attempted to learn the song that the crowd sang in order to get candy. Finally after several attempts and having various Germans teach us the song, we started to sing. By the end of the parade, we had collected various German candies along with having our hair messed with, feathers in our face, and thoroughly teased. I definitely enjoyed Fasnet and being able to see how this town could take a break from their lives and just have a great fun filled day.
Passing out candy to kids
Check out more of my pictures from Fasnet at https://plus.google.com/photos/113496106333285759017/albums?banner=pwa
Hola choros!
