Fasnacht

Fasnacht is the Carnival Season in Southern Germany, and apparently, the best (and biggest) place to celebrate it is Konstanz. In the northern parts of Germany, and in other areas of Europe, they celebrate the normal Carnival, but here, it is a little bit different. From Wikipedia,

"An old tradition in Southern Germany, [Fasnacht] is the time of the year when the reign of bad spirits of the cold and grim winter period is over and these spirits are symbolically being hunted down and expelled. By the end of winter, each year around January and February, people dress up as demons, witches, earthly spirits and dreadful animals to enact this scene of symbolic expulsion. What happens in fact is an expulsion of the winter season that symbolizes death, silence and destruction."

So, instead of having a giant pre-Lent party, it's a giant post-winter party (except that it happened this year in the middle of our cold snap...temperatures were below 0 for most of the month!). 

The whole region celebrates. Different parts of town have different Fasnacht Clubs (Narren Groups) with different traditional costumes. It's like Halloween, but for grown ups. Here are some examples.

From Schmotziger Donnerstag (Dirty/Greasy Thursday) to Rosenmontag (Rose Monday?) to Ash Wednesday, the whole city stands stops and parties. On the first day, the Narren take over the city hall. They expel the Mayor, and no city business can happen. For the next week, there are parades and costumes and bands in the city center every night. There are also a lot of other traditions in the smaller areas (such as finding a Fasnacht Tree, burning clothes from the old year, etc.)

Here are some photos the Konstanz Fasnacht and of our costumes.