We had a really good time last night at the Weiberfasching dinner. Some of the Germans in our group were dressed up, and many of the other patrons of the restaurant were in costume. There was also lots of singing and clapping with traditional accordion German music playing. Many of the Germans would stop and join along with the musicians. The food was good, the company was good (and entertaining) - what more could you ask for?
Today is the final in my series on Faschings. All partying ends abruptly at the stroke of midnight when the true fasting begins. In America, my family celebrated this day called Ash Wednesday (here, it is Ashermittwoch) by going to a very somber church service and having ashes and oil placed on our foreheads. In Germany, it is not all that different, but many less actually attend churches, so none of my students said they would be participating in this ritual. The season of Lent that follows Ash Wednesday up till Easter is also observed here. It is called Fastenzeit. It means literally a time without meat. In our family, we would give up some vice, such as chocolate or candy. Here, it is also similar. Some give up meat, some alcohol, some smoking, etc., but again, when I asked my students would they be giving something up, they all replied no with sheepish grins.
The longer I am here, the more I see a major dichotomy of the people. Religion plays an extremely important role in our region of Germany, yet many of the local people do not attend church or follow its practices and rituals. Germany is known for its high-quality engineering, yet my husband and I often talk about the lack of modern engineering in many of the appliances and products we use on a daily basis. It is not that they don't know about these things, as some of the biggest German companies make these appliances, American style, for sale in the US. But the locals here seem to refuse to embrace the technology that we take so much for granted in the US. The architecture also reflects this. Apart from a very ugly time in the 1970s when square and boxy was the in thing, Germany clings to its old buildings and ancient architecture. I am very happy about that, as it does give that picturesque feel that is so romanticised about the country. Yet, if you go to any furniture store to fill these lovely, old buildings, all you will find is techno modern. But I will say that there are some really interesting buildings, particularly in relation to the car museums we have seen - truly modern while staying beautiful. As another example, they seem to be so health conscientious, but at the same time, I see people smoking everywhere. They seem so environmentally fanatical, yet people are switching to wood-burning furnaces to save money on the cost of heating oil. Like I said, it seems to be a truly torn way of living, yet I can't tell that any of them see it as odd. For me, it has made me wonder how foreigners might have similar thoughts about Americans once they lived in our country for a bit.
The word for today is celebration: die Feier (pronounced like we say "fire").
The question for the day is "where is the oldest, and for many centuries, the only bridge that crossed the Rhine River between the North Sea and Lake Constance?" Please remember that I will be off next week and will return to writing on March 2nd.
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
