Alexandria's Adventures in Germany : March 2015

Some crazy stuff has happened in just last week because of a big holiday called Fastnacht. It is a time here in Germany where people can go out in costumes, drink, and party like crazy before Lent.

Sunday February 22, 2015

I went to a parade in a small town near me and watched people being 'attacked' by Hexes (Witches), and Monsters with paint and confetti. I wasn't spared. It was a crazy parade with very elaborate costumes and masks. Each group that walks by is in a group called a Clique. They wear matching costumes, sometimes play music, and throw candy and confetti at people and children. I stood watching this parade for two and a half hours, and when I left it was still going! It was really great fun to watch because the interactions between costumed creatures and kids was really funny. I saw a teenage girl picked up by a monster and carried down the street. One girl was covered in confetti and wrapped in plastic wrap. Another time a girl was trying to get her shoe and sock back from a witch. When she caught the witch, the other people from the Clique laid her on a cart they were pulling and put a giant stamp on her face. This was a spectacular and hilarious parade!

Hexes are normally armed with a broom to sweep confetti onto people

Some wore traditional normal costumes

KISS

A Witch giving a little girl candy after dropping confetti on her head.

Lederhosen

This Hex had a GoPro strapped onto her face.

Many Cliques marched wearing these wooden shoes, or shoes made of woven straw with leather bottoms.

Being confettied by a Beast :)

The streets were covered with confetti.

Monday February 23, 2015
This past Monday morning was another interesting experience that required me to get up at 2:00 AM to catch a train to Basel, Switzerland (a ten minute train ride from Lörrach). I met up with some friends to see the Morgestraich in Basel. It is a Swiss Fastnacht parade in complete darkness starting at 4:00 AM. The parade consists of Cliques, groups of costumed people, playing only piccolos and drums, wearing lanterns on their head, marching in all directions through Basel. There are three rules for someone who wants to watch the parade. First, no use of flash. Second, only the people in the cliques are allow to wear costumes. Third, you may follow the different cliques to hear their music, but you have to move if you are in their way, otherwise they will push you over with their giant lantern stick, bump into you, or throw oranges at you. This was quite an adventure that was a little creepy too. Below I have pictures to show you what it looks like.

Alexandria, Katja, Janae, Anna

The giant lanterns are usually portraying political themes.

A Clique with Lamps on their heads :)

All the Cliques are marching with masks on, here we found some just sitting on stairs.

Putin

We walked through Basel and avoided being run-over by Cliques, and around 5:30 AM we made our way to the Basel SBB Main Train Station. We warmed up in a cafe and visited the Backerei (bakery) to buy the traditional Fastenwähe (similar to a Fastnacht Pretzel).

Tuesday February 24, 2015
On Tuesday after work I went back to Basel with some friends. We had heard that there were going to be concerts and a massive party taking place that night. We arrived just after 7 PM and walked from the Basel Badischer Bahnhof (Train Station) through Basel to Marktplatz. While walking we saw more marching Cliques lit-up with lights. On the Bridge crossing the Rhein River I was once again confettied. When we arrived at Marktplatz it was packed full of people watching the Guggenmusik Concert on a raised stage. Guggenmusik is a group of costumed people playing brass instruments during the season of Fastnacht. The costumes looked really cool, especially the conductor because they were wearing a massive head mask (similar to the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland).

From there we followed crowds through the streets to Münsterplatz, where the Münster Cathedral is. In the square before the church stood a big exhibition to view all of the large lanterns from the Morgestraich.

Just when I realized how quite Münsterplatz was a Clique came marching through. Then in the opposite direction came another one! We were standing in the middle surrounded! Luckily Katja pushed Janae and I out of the way to safety, except for Rudy, he was stuck.

After looking at all of the lanterns we continued to walk through Basel. The Cliques were still marching and so we played a game of taking selfies before getting trampled :) It was a bit scary, but also a laugh :D