Here in this part of Germany, there is a very big holiday season called Fasching. It is related to the celebration of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but is very different. Basically, they have a couple of weeks of celebrating before the beginning of the Lent season. This area is prominently a Catholic region and Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, 40 days before Easter. The celebration here is most recognizable by the wearing of costumes. Each city and small village has their standard "Fool" costume. Many of them are witches, or wolves and they have different masks that people wear. Children also dress up in costumes. It really looks a lot like Halloween in the stores with all the costume advertisements. On Monday this week, Rose Montag, they had a parade in Ravensburg. I thought, "Yeah a parade... I've seen some good parades in Germany." Well, this is more than anything I have ever seen before. They had groups from all over the region. They did not have floats, but it lasted 2 hours and shut everything down in the area and was quite something to behold. Their costumes are so elaborate and there were a lot of bands. All this with about 25° weather. Here are a whole bunch of pictures.
This is just a group of people going to watch the parade.
Derick was with us watching the parade
A photo-op
They had some red smoke for some reason. The sign carried bu the hag/witch says "Fools Guild, Ulm"
I bet their legs got cold!
These kind of looked like mountain men and bird creatures
I have no idea. Green wookies?
Kind of scary black hooded people with long noses.
Yes, Mark and Adam, these are for you. It was complete with sousas and tubas.
Awesome pics! I'll have to show them to the kids when they wake up :).
ReplyDeleteFun to see and hear of local customs. They love bright colors! Looks like flowers in a winter scene! Thanks for sending them.
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