European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 27, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse S4s Ken George Selz la myrium i h plug beders a Quot is Quot Ose a a a it ballroom during the Bril of the dead Bat part of g carnival festivities in Ostend Belgium. The Ball is March 7 this year. Musicians wearing huge masks is one of the features of Basel s fasnacht which is always held a week later than most carnival celebrations. S&8 Joe Owen Munich and Mainz. The highlights of the Wasching season include the Many carnival balls which rank among the most popular social events of the year. Another major part of the German carnival Celebration Are the traditional sit Yungen Large carefully orchestrated parties where politicians and other Public figures Are roasted in rhyming satire. There Are also countless private parties and nearly every local pub holds some kind of Celebration. The pub parties Are usually informal and open to the Public. One of the perennially appealing aspects of Fasching is the Chance to dress up and momentarily lose your identity. Traditionally this has made the Celebration a great leveler blurring divisive elements such As social status income level and even sex. Scions of society May masquerade As paupers men dress up As women and vice versa and children become fairy tale characters or the heroes of their own fantasies. You do not have to put on a costume to celebrate Fasching but most people do. Even within Germany the timing and style of the celebrations vary according to Region. The biggest and most famous events Are the Rose Montag Rose monday parades in Cologne Mainz and Dusseldorf. German television traditionally televised the huge Cologne and Mainz parades which usually last three or four hours. The word Rose Montag is Likely an adaptation of Arsender Montag a frenzied monday a which described the uninhibited anything goes merrymaking of Fasching s final Days. Traditionally indiscretions committed during Fasching were not considered grounds for divorce in some places Fasching Dienstag Fasching tuesday is the big Day. This is the German equivalent of the French Mardi gras fat tuesday. Local dialects have twisted some of the Fasching terms into offbeat variations. In the Black Forest town of Rothweil Schmo Zige tuesday is the big Day. With hordes of wooden masked witches and demons filling the streets the Rothweil Celebration evokes the weird paganism of ancient Alemanni festivals. The Alemanni were a germanic tribe that inhabited the present Day French German Swiss Border Region. The Basel fasnacht also has Alemanni roots. Though the origins and the festivities vary from country to country and Region to Region wherever you celebrate carnival you will find merriment Good will and plenty of fun. Mike Mowrer a civilian living in Feidelberg germ has attended Many carnival events Over the years. His favorite he says is the Basel fasnacht. Quot i like the tradition the sentiment the Beauty of the City Quot he says in Germany he especially enjoys the More raucous Cologne Fasching but Quot i Don t go up. Much any but he says once was enough for Mainz. Quot it s Foi the younger rowdies am february 27, 1992 stripes Magazine 7
