Two weeks ago James and I spent a long weekend in Germany. We went over to spend time with my wonderful exchange family and experience Fasching or German Carnival. It was unbelievable! So much fun, so many laughs and highly entertaining.
Fasching is the name of German Carnival time. Traditionally started on the 11th of November and ends on Ash Wednesday in time for Lent. Depending on where you are in Germany, Fasching can take many forms. Military-style dancing is seen more in Frankfurt, Parades up to Colonge area and Guggemusik in southern Germany and Switzerland. The Carnival parade and shows we went to were somewhere in the middle so we got a brilliant mix of all the different influences of German Fasching time.
There are so many different parts of Fasching, it depends on where you go as to what you experience. We were lucky enough to see a full show of acting, singing, dancing, and music and attend a parade of many different carnival clubs walking the streets, in the snow!
It is such a fun, festive and crazy time. We had a blast and I wanted to share some of our photos from our time.
The Carnival Show
Hannah doing some amazing and flexible dancing!
The Guggemusik group usually involves different drums and trumpets and plays well-known tunes, loudly.
The Fire and Ice dance group doing an amazing version of The Lion King Musical.
The best Timon ever!
Of course, the entire show was in German, in a fast and difficult dialect, so I maybe understood about a third of the words they were saying. But it was still completely enjoyable. Everyone performing and watching was having an amazing time, with dancing, singing and even a conga line!
Not only do the performers dress up but the spectators are encouraged to as well….
Our “Africa” themed costumes; me on safari and James the giraffe.
The Parade
The morning after a late late night at the carnival show and maybe a German beer or two, we awoke to a very light dusting of snow. None settling, but just small wee flakes falling from the sky. As it got closer to the time of the parade, the snow suddenly became heavier. Giant snowflakes were falling from the sky. I’m not going to lie I may have let out a childish squeal. It was very exciting!! A little bit settled but not enough to properly play in. We had a very enjoyable but cold afternoon watching a crazy Fasching parade while it snowed down on us.
I love when snow is falling. It’s so peaceful. You just look up and all the snowflakes are just floating down so softly.
Again, spectators were encouraged to dress up for the parade. There were plenty of onesies, hats and creative costumes lining the streets of the village where the parade was held.
The parade began with an ear-splitting cannon marched through the streets. Followed closely behind by an abundance of Carnival clubs including all their different groups; dancing groups of different ages and abilities, masked groups and music groups.
The masked groups can vary a lot. Some are very sweet and cute, and some can be quite scary.
All throughout the parade you can hear guggemusik and crowds yelling “Hellau!”
Children (and some big kids) take bags with them to the parade. The Carnival clubs give out all sorts of different treats to take home. Majority of our collection was lollies and small bags of popcorn, but they were also giving out alcohol, dry soup packets, bread making flour, pouches of tissues.
There’s a lot of hard work that goes into preparing for Fasching Zeit. Almost a year’s worth of training goes into the Fasching Show as well as set painting and costume making. We had the BEST time at the Carnival show and parade, the dancing, the singing and laughing (even if I didn’t quite get the joke). It was all so much fun and such a unique experience. I would 100% recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to go. It’s like nothing you’ve been to before and the fun is infectious!
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