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Carnival/Fasching, Page 1

About Carnival

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CarnivalJesters appear to see everything viewed through the bottom of a schnapps glass, and they seem to have a thing about number eleven: The eleventh day of the eleventh month at 11:11 O’clock is the time when masquerade and buffoonery come back into their own. The dull and dreary months devoid of the cries of Alaaf and Ilelan finally come to an end.

The fools call the period between 11 November and Ash Wednesday the Fifth Season in a wave of self-assuredness. But unlike the “fifth wheel” in a car, which one can very well do without, genuine carnival revelers cannot exist without this fifth season in the year. They would rather make do without the other four.

After the official opening in the fall there is another highlight to celebrate at the turn of the year, but this usually only concern members of Carnival (Fastnacht) associations. Carnival celebrated by all consists of the wild days; in the Rhineland, and to an increasing extent elsewhere, celebrations go on from Maundy Thursday called Weiberfast­nacht, right on through a turbulent weekend up until Shrove Tuesday. This is followed by Ash Wednesday on which everything is officially over, but in reality forms part of the festivities in the form of organized traditional meals of fish.

The uninhibited bout of drinking and wild parties before the 40 days of fasting is not an invention by tourist managers: the Ger­mans have been celebrating Fastnacht in this wild fashion for centuries - restricted only now and again by prohibitions issued by the authorities.

One of the first highlights - primarily in Southern Germany - is held during the twelve days and nights between Christmas and 6 January. This signals the start of the period of masquerade, which reaches its climax on Fastnacht.

Especially in rural areas, this masquerading was employed as a means of banishing the dark and threatening forces of winter. People were by no means prudish or restrained in their behavior at these times, and the church in particular was very much opposed to the wild doings of prostitutes and other rogues of loose morals. It attempted to make its influence felt by issuing massive prohibi­tions, all to no effect. To the contrary - why else did the peo­ple (as they still do today) put on fancy costumes and masks? It is quite easy to shed one's own personality during the period of Fasching~Karneval by donning cos­tume. Indeed, in earlier times this was much more marked than it is today. In times of strong authoritarian or puritanical environments, it is understandably much more enjoyable to let off steam for once without being recognized, and to throw off the usual restraint.

With all this exuberance, it may be sur­prising at first glance that many of the masks have such a grim appearance, which seem anything but amusing. However, there is some sense in it all. The word 'mask" comes from Italian - here, the word "masca" literally means a net used to wrap people in when they die, but in the transferred sense refers to the dead person himself when he returns as an evil spirit.

Incidentally, the dead also play their part in the word Karneval itself: the old German language has the word "val" or "wal" for dead, and Karne was used to refer to the heathen gods. Karneval thus designates a parade of dead gods, a procession of gods who have fallen.

Nobody worries about this today, how­ever - except in scholarly treatises: Kar­neval or Fasching or Fastnacht is merri­ment and gaiety with the stamp of official approval. Its strongholds are to be found in the Munich, Mainz, Cologne and Dusseldorf Kanievals. But festivities are also held outside of these large cities not only in private circles, but also with processions. And these small processions through the streets away from the main centers are often merrier and more spon­taneous. In consideration of the attrac­tion to the big processions, how­ever, they do not take place on the tradi­tional Shrove Monday, but a day or some­times even a week before. But never after Fastnacht - it’s all over by Ash Wednesday.

Shrovetide and Lenten Fare

Days of fasting or a longer period without food may be encountered in one form or another in all the large religious com­munities. The reasons for demanding such abstinence have always been the same: human beings lived in a form of society which already knew forms of organization, and they had learned the principles of stockpiling, which allowed them to take care of food supplies generally without paying attention to the seasons. This nevertheless increased the danger of poisonous substances collecting in their bodies, because the food was not so varied as it had previously been among early gatherers. The religions therefore adopted the custom of issuing regulations concerning hygiene and other health measures.

Other articles

The Christian Sense of Carnival

Carnival Around Germany

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