The Lake's Alpine Mission: Karneval (Fasnet)

All over Germany it is tradition to celebrate Carnival (Karneval) or Fasnet. It is called different things depending on the area. Fasnet is a dialect shortcut for Fastnacht which is the night before the fast for Lent begins. This is when Karneval concludes. This celebration is a big deal here! People dress up in costumes and it reminded us of Halloween in America. Karneval actually begins the 11th day of the 11th month (November), but nothing much happens until after January 6th. Then the parades begin. Some believe the parades and revelry began as a way to scare away winter and evil spirits. Groups from almost all cities and villages go from town to town participating in that town's parade. Each group has their own unique costume signifying their town and they wear hand carved wooden masks. Many of these have been passed down from one generation to the next and some are quite elaborate. Some towns have professional mask makers. Most costumes are quite elaborate and some groups are quite large. For weeks, these groups gather in different towns and participate in that town's parade. They march in many, many parades. All parades in Germany conclude by the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. The Parade in Ravensburg was on Monday, February 12. We planned to go with our friend, Corinna Tonoli, because she insisted we needed to view this big part of German culture. We were just going to find a place on the street, but then our friends, Vera and Janos Stevens, from our Branch, invited us to join with them and their family at their daughter's home right in the city on the parade route. They have a balcony overlooking the street and we could even watch from inside if we were too cold. They also provided warm and delicious food and drinks! Some of their family dressed up as well. The parade was huge and went for almost 4 hours. We didn't watch the entire parade, but what we saw was really fun! Corinna and I went down to the street, where some of the family was watching, for a closer view. Some of the parade participants will try to involve the crowd by messing up their hair and putting handfuls of confetti in their hair and coats. I was one of those caught by one of these scoundrels!