European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 25, 1959, Darmstadt, Hesse Carnival Queen rides through main Street of the peloponnesian City of Patras in a Gigantic Flower bedecked throne. As the rest of Europe is resting from its convivial pc Long in shenanigans the greeks arc just beginning to plot their festive pleasures. Trio greek easter and therefore Lent Falls later than it does in the Western world so their Carni Val begins Long after Fasching and the Mardi gras have ended. Carnival in Greece began this year on february 22 and the fun reaches its Climax on March 15then comes clean monday and the beginning of Lent. As everywhere else the grecian carnival season is characterized by unrestricted gaiety Rich foods and abundant wine. This is laced with singing and dancing and All the Oiler things considered necessary for enjoying life during the Days before Thelong and Mournful seven week Lent period with us taboos against meat marriage an merriment. Before the War the season s important event was the athenian carnival carriages decorated with Gar lands of Flowers ribbons and confetti depicted scenes from daily life during the three hour Long Parade through the hear of town. Then too the masquerade was an important and colourful feature of carnival. But today it has lost its Appeal to the adults. It is still possible however to meet children in the City s Many Parks and streets bedecked in All sorts of improbable costumes. Although Athens still dresses up and goes to town during the three festive weeks before Lent it is to the peloponnesian town of Patras that the die hard revellers go to expend their pent up sup ply of i Jinks and higher spirits. On the last sunday of carnival the town s Normal population is swelled by some 40,000 to 50,000 visitors All seeking to join in the fun. Last year s carnival Parade at Patras has been used As n pattern for a repeat this year. Hours before the procession was due to Start thousands of people lined the streets and squares along the route. Bal conies windows terraces and rooftops swarmed with people awaiting King car Nival. Behind the King came other floats depicting the people s love for the taxpayer a Del. 12 by John m. Wright staff writer football apes from the and other fun provoking items too numerous to mention. The Parade continued for three hours ending at the Cathedral Square where Brilliant fireworks greeted the night. As is customary on the final Day of there lenten festivities there was a mock funeral for King carnival accompanied by bands fireworks and hilarity. Then a Shower of sparklers spelled out until next year on clean monday the inhabitants of this Little town on the. Corinthian Gulf give vent to their seafaring tradition with Good Humoured fun. Many join their neigh Bors across the Bay at Galaxy Chi to take part in the Kou Loitman no one seems to know what the Koulou Ina is or Means or even just where it be Gan. Some compare it to a Spanish say it. Is a fun packed tradition of the Village that has been passed along from generation to generation. No one escapes. When the festivities each their height men carrying bags of flour and tins of grease or paint join Bat Leon the Beach. One minute the waterfront is a peaceful setting on the corinthian Gulf and the next it is a Cloud of flying flour As each strives to cover the other from head to toe wit the Greasy mixture. As the Battle wears on the Munster descend on the onlookers who had Best be prepared. In the North of Greece carnival Means More than fun an enjoyment to the Farmer who in the midst of songs and drink feels the coming of Spring and tries to influence the Awakening Earth in his behalf. At one Village in North Epirus on the afternoon of the last sunday of carnival the villagers participate in a mock wedding with a Young boy and girl dressed As Bride and Groom. After the ceremony the villagers dance around the town and return to the Village Square where u Man is wrapped in a Cape and made ready for a make believe the burial ceremony begins the victim to the Surprise and pleasure fall comes to life representing the coming of Spring after the Winter s Dor Mant period. Then the fun and festivities begin anew. Reveler sports papier mache head. Roman fortress at old roman Road leads to Entrance of ancient photos Walters Friedrich and Krieger walk through Drill Hall. Nearby Are Headquarters granary museum and Barracks. At right in Saalburg museum Are me mentos of military life made and used when fortress housed roman soldiers. At left pfc Clemens w. Friedrich and pvt Barry l. Krieger take close look at statue of emperor Antoninus Pius. Less than an hour s drive from Frank Furt Germany stands one of the most remarkable monuments to the grandeur that was Rome. In the Dawn of christianity the Empire of the Caesars stretched North to the Rhineland the upper Danube. Germanic tribes constantly invaded roman territory and roman cohorts were forced to erect de sense lines. At what is now Saalburg a few minutes from the resort spa of bad Homburg in the Taurus mountains they built a for Tress. In the Middle 1800s, excavations revealed the old site dating Back to the 2d Century. It was in a Good state of preservation the romans built things Toast. The fortress was constructed of Stone and Wood. All its outlines were apparent and some of the Walls were intact. Funds from private sources in America and from the German government were raised to reconstruct the fortress in the greatest detail possible. Today tourists can wander through a near exact replica of the ancient roman Camp. The visitor receives an exciting impression of what life must have been like in those Days. In some ways americans Are reminded of their own comparatively re cent history when Federal troops were quartered in log forts stretching West from the alleghenies to the Pacific. Wooden ramparts connected roman watchtower from the Rhine to the Danube europeans too can be reminded of evermore recent history the futile Days of the bloc houses along the Bismarck Maginot and Mannerheim lines and Germany s Westwall. All of them like the roman fortifications proved unavailing against the erosion of time the bitter refusal of his tory to follow the conceits of men or governments. In the Middle of the 1st Century b. C., Julius Caesar drove North into what is now West Germany. Against stubborn resistance he continued to enlarge his Empire until it included the Alpine nations and Southern Germany. Following Caesar s death emperor Augustus tried to push the roman Frontier to the Elbe but failed. Historical research has revealed that. A few Short decades after the completion of the Saalburg fortress the Garrison con sisting of about 500 men was abandoned in the face of persistent invasions by Ger manic tribes. The mighty Walls and towers fell into ruin and in the Middle Ages served As a Quarry. The Camp today consists of a Complete reconstructed rectangular fortress. The Entrance Porta Pretoria is approached via an old roman Road with a wooden Bridge spanning a dry Moat. Inside Are the granary now a museum the armory the Drill Hall and Headquarters building Barracks an inner court Wells and lesser buildings. Inside and outside the Camp there is total of 99 Wells some of them still con Taining water. The museum is the Only one in Germany which contains an of Tensive collection of tools and other objects actually made during the time the roman boundaries were established. There Are also the remnants of the Bath houses used by the colonial troops and Small scale replicas of the Interior Baths which were heated with charcoal. These were outside the Camp proper As were and the stars and stripes wednesday february 25, 1959 the stars and stripes by Jack Walters staff writer Jacent communities housing military de Pendents. Numerous earthworks from still earlier times surround Saalburg fortress the Pur pose of them not yet certain. In summertime the area is particularly attractive. Wooded Hills invite outdoor eating and there is a Large picnic fortress is open year round. A few minutes drive takes you to bad 1-Iomburgwhich has at least a dozen first rate restaurants ranging in Price and variety of menus from sandwiches and Coffee to seven course meals at the sumptuous Rit Ter s Park hotel. To get to Saalburg from Frankfurt go North on the autobahn to Kassel take the turnoff to bad Homburg proceed through that town to Dornholz Hausen and a few Kilometres beyond on the same Road i Saalburg. Page 13
