It’s Be-A-Crazy-German Day During Fasnet!

Well…I’m alive…and that is all that matters right?

It all started last weekend with a 3 day festival celebrating the culture and the traditions of each town.  There is a great website that I found that explains what each town’s costume means and the story behind the founding of this however it is in German and a bit spotty once translated to English.  The website is here and if you feel up to it, translate and see what it’s all about but more so, check out the costumes for each town. There are only a few towns on this page but these are all within the same area/region that we live in.

I was part of Toblerone’s hometown which is called Renquishausen. For them, the traditional garb is the suit of a Rooster and there are also women costumes which are of old maids that carry baskets full of eggs (or shots of liquor!). I was a Rooster this year but opted out of the terrifying mask – see below! I’m not quite sure why all of the masks from each town is so frightening! Some are really scary!!!

The story behind the Rooster costume goes back to the 1800’s where the men of this town would breed their roosters and be able to supply easily to Nobels and others.  Somewhere along the line there was a famine and their stock was wiped out clean. This becoming the crescent for their town and the story behind the costumes!

The 3 day party was crazy fun but mostly, I LOVED the parade. There were more than 40 towns (over 4,000 people) that joined in this parade and then went to party hardy in a giant tent afterwards. Check out some of the pictures in my slideshow below and let me know what you think!! They have some crazy imaginations! For each town there is the band, the dancers (which are dressed like cowgirls), the town crescent costume, and the old maid/witch costume.

This weekend is continuing with mamy celebrations but in everyone’s individual town. This is the time when people will come around dressed up in costumes (any costumes of their choice) and never show their faces and talk in weird voices. They will push you out of the way and go inside your house and drink your alcohol! This happened to us last year when a swarm of bees and beekeepers came into the house and forced us to drink honey liquor! (ok ok…the real truth…I wasn’t forced!)  Actually, see a picture for yourself from last year. I had been in the house for maybe 5 days so the place was a wreck and boxes were everywhere as I had just arrived!

Also this weekend each town has a giant fire and this symbolizes the old tradition of burning a witch and leaving behind winter. The welcoming of Spring!

Enjoy the Freak Show!!! :-))) (Note: I was drunk-ish and standing facing directly into the sun because it was -20 below so the pics are a little light, sorry!)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.