Valentine's Day was ushered in by plenty of snow. My husband and I went out on a Saturday drive (the kids were with a wonderful friend who gave us some alone time) to see how much more snow they had gotten up in the higher mountains. The roads, as always, despite a week of sometimes heavy snow, were absolutely clear. The snow removal folks here are amazing. I had really worried about our not being able to drive on snow, but this has definitely proved to be a non-issue. Anyway, in the mountains about 30 minutes south of us, the snow was over waist deep in some places. Although the way I fell into it doesn't make the photo quite as impressive, this snow was actually up to my husband's stomach!! We had a lovely Valentine's Day, and as I suspected, for the Germans here, it was either a non-event or a very low-key quiet event.This may be, though, because it is overshadowed by nothing other than Halloween in February. Around the beginning of January, we noticed that the Christmas section in the grocery store was being slowly replaced with what looked all the world like Halloween costumes. More and more has evolved, and now there are large sections of every store devoted to what looks like Halloween items - but in a more Barnum and Bailey sorta way. This week marks the beginning of those bigger events associated with all this costumery (like my made-up word?) that is leading up to Ash Wednesday here in the Allgäu - Fasching. Fasching stems from the pagan festivals of winter. It was meant to ward off the evil spirits lurking in the long, cold, dark winter and to summon the spirits of spring, warmth and light. Of course, the Catholic Church took the opportunity to incorporate this event into the Christian festivals related to Lent to help convert the peoples to Christianity. Today in Germany, the biggest festival is in Cologne (here, the name for the city is Köln.) More than 1 million people will attend the festivities in this city. The first mention of the actual Fasching festivals of Köln dates back to 1341, however, modern celebrations really didn't start until around 1823. Other cities that have notable celebrations here in Germany are Mainz and Düsseldorf.
It is important to note that the name for this time of year as well as the start date are also dependent on your location within Germany. In our region, it is called Fasching. In Köln, it is called Karneval. In other regions, it is called Fastnacht, Fasnet, and Fosnat. In some regions, it starts on the day after Epiphany (Jan. 7th) while in others it starts on Nov. 11th, at 11:11 AM. Although I know it was mentioned by the locals here to have started on this date, I still can't seem to find out why this is a significant date for it. The entire time from November to Ash Wednesday is often referred to as the Fifth Season. The celebrations, however, are mild to non-existent up until the two to three weeks before Ash Wednesday. Then, beginning on the Thursday before, a series of events are celebrated with a final big bash similar to New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations - complete with parades, costumes, and general wackiness. My blogs over the next few days will highlight some of these main days associated with this seasonal party. Events that will be discussed are the Weiberfastnacht, Rosenmontag, Faschingsdienstag, and the Fasching parade - which will be held here in Kempten on this Saturday. My last blog for the week will be about Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent as it is observed here. Then, I will be off for a week to celebrate these events. The children have the entire week of school off from Feb. 23 - 27th, my husband's work is closed for the whole week, and we have a dear friend from South Carolina coming to visit, too.
While I am off, though, I challenge you to see how other parts of the world also celebrate this time of year. I have already mentioned Mardi Gras, but you may just be surprised at where and how elaborate other parts of the world celebrate. See how many different names there are for it, and compare and contrast the festivals and their costumes, food, and rituals.
The word for the day is costume: die Faschingskostüme (here, they put the celebration name and costume all together - alone it would, of course, just be Kostüme). It is pronounced fahsh ingz kost eum eh - where the "o" of kost is long like in coast and the eum is pronounced as if you are smelling something bad (eww!!) with an "m" afterwards.
The question for the day is "what is Weiberfastnacht?"
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
