Fasching parade

We experienced something new this past weekend. We attended our first Fasching parade, or Carnival here in Linden on Sunday. It's similar to Mardi Gras...without the breasts and beads. (At least during the day time anyway. There's a whole lot of drinking going on, and we're guessing it gets more and more like Mardi Gras once the kids are in bed. )

Here is a better explanation of Carnival:

Although the festival and party season in Germany starts on 11 November at 11:11 am, the actual Carnival week begins on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. German Carnival parades are held on the weekend before and especially on Rose Monday, and occasionally on Shrove Tuesday as well in the suburbs of larger cities. The Carnival session begins each year on 11 November at 11:11 am and finishes on Ash Wednesday with the main festivities occurring around Rosenmontag; this time is also called the "Fifth Season."

In German-speaking countries, two distinct varieties of Carnivals are held. The Rheinish Carnival is held in the west of Germany, mainly in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland Palatinate, and is famous for celebrations such as parades and costume balls. Cologne Carnival is the largest and most famous. On Carnival Thursday (called "Old Women Day" or "The Women's Day"), in commemoration of an 1824 revolt by washer-women, women storm city halls, cut men's ties, and are allowed to kiss any man who passes their way.

The "Swabian-Alemannic" Carnival, known as Fastnacht, takes place in Baden and Swabia (Southwestern Germany), Switzerland, Alsace andVorarlberg (Western Austria). It traditionally represents the time of year when the reign of the cold, grim winter spirits is over and these spirits are being hunted down and expelled.

NOTE: I took all of these photos left handed with my point and shoot camera so they aren't the best shots in the world. Hopefully once my wrist is healed, the pictures in my posts will be a bit better. 

We were invited by our friends, the Gilmore's, to come to their house for a party. Their daughter, Ryleigh just had her second birthday and to celebrate, we ate pizza and watched this cute little red head open up all of her presents. On this day, the streets of Linden were closed down to automobile traffic and costumed folks, both young and old wandered about waiting for the commencement of the annual Fasching parade.

It just so happens that the parade takes place on the Gilmore's street which is pretty cool. We all hung out on their front porch and watched as the merriment took place. Here's a very friendly smurf posing for a picture.

There were giraffes and all kinds of other creatures in the parade. As we were leaving our house to walk to the Gilmore's, we noticed that our neighbors were dressed as polar bears. These are two full grown adult males, and, not having any idea what we were about to witness, looked odd to us. That is, until we saw all of the other villagers roaming about in different costumes. It was like Halloween. Halloween with lots and lots of alcohol.

There was not nearly as much music as we'd like. These guys were pretty cool, though. 

One Kermit the Frog...followed by a bunch of Miss. Piggy's. The girl dressed as Kermit had her mask on backward and walked facing the slew of swine. My left handedness didn't catch that, however. You'll have to just take my word for it I guess. :)

These costumes were wild. The guy, (girl?) on the left had hands on an extension pole and as he walked down the street, he'd reach out to the parade goers. The rest of them had instruments and noise makers...and actually, some very cool make up on their faces.

Candy was tossed from the floats and from the other participants in the parade. We scored a ton of suckers, hard candies, sealed bags of caramel corn and a couple of full sized candy bars. On the Linden web site, it states that the organizers of the parade are not to be held liable for injuries sustained due to candy throwing. You watch the parade at your own risk and if you're not fast enough to dodge a Twix bar, it's your own problem!

Many people followed the parade as it wound it's way through Linden, most of them in costume. It was a very chilly day with snow flurries off and on throughout the afternoon. We all decided going in for some of Ryleigh's birthday cake was more fun than hanging out with cold fingers and toes.

This cake came from our local backerei and it was incredibly good. Very, very rich, but not too sweet. Yum. Pizza and cake. It was a tasty afternoon.

The four of us walked home in the early evening through crowds of revelers still in their costumes and having a great time in downtown Linden. Plastic shot glasses, liquor bottles and confetti littered the streets and sidewalks and a group of folks, after finding out we were American, tried their best to get us to drink with them. Miraculously, the next day, the only signs of the festivities were the no parking signs that had yet to be taken down and everyone had returned back to work and school as the time for Lent draws closer.

We had a fun Fasching day. Oh, and I'm happy to report that none of us got hurt by flying confections.