Fasching

Fasching

Between February 2 and March 8; the two days before Ash Wednesday

Known in southwest Germany as Fastnacht, in Bavaria and Austria as Fasching, and as Karneval in the Rhineland, this is a Shrovetide festival that takes place on the two days immediately preceding Ash Wednesday, otherwise known as Rose Monday and Shrove Tuesday. It features processions of masked figures, and is the equivalent of Mardi Gras and the last day of Carnival.
Fastnacht means "eve of the fast," and the wild celebrations that typically take place during this festival are a way of making the most of the last hours before the deprivations of Lent.
In the Black Forest area of southern Germany, these pre-Lenten festivities are called Fastnet . The celebrations date back to the Middle Ages and were developed by craftsmen's guilds. Today's carnival clubs ( Narrenzünfte ) still use the same wooden masks and traditional costumes in their parades as their ancestors did. The rites of Fasnet are distinctive: in Elzach, wooden-masked Schuddig Fools, wearing red costumes and large hats decorated with snail shells, run through the town beating people with blown-up hogs' bladders; in Wolfach, fools stroll around in nightgowns and nightcaps; in Überlinger on the Bodensee and Villingen, they crack long whips, toss fruit and nuts to the children, and wear foxes' tails and smiling wooden masks. Carnival ends with Kehraus, a "sweeping out."
See also Karneval in Cologne

CONTACTS:
German National Tourist Office
122 E. 42nd St., 20th Fl., Ste. 2000
New York, NY 10168
800-651-7010 or 212-661-7200; fax: 212-661-7174
www.cometogermany.com
Austrian National Tourist Office
120 W. 45th St., 9th Fl.
P.O. Box 1142
New York, NY 10036
212-944-6885; fax: 212-730-4568
www.austria.info

SOURCES:
BkFest-1937, pp. 29, 132
BkHolWrld-1986, Feb 25
DictFolkMyth-1984, pp. 192, 370, 977, 1082
EncyEaster-2002, p. 219
FestWestEur-1958, pp. 55, 56
FolkWrldHol-1999, p. 139
RelHolCal-2004, p. 91