I cannot explain just exactly what it was that I experienced last night, but I will try to summarize.
They call it Fastnacht, literally, "fasting eve". It is part of Karneval. It is a period of celebration. How long it lasts and what exactly are we celebrating? ...I am still confused. I have heard multiple explanations:
Seasonal: the saying goodbye to Winter and welcoming of Spring
Political: the one week of the year when citizens can go "crazy" and the government turns a blind eye (or eyes?)
Religious: the week of indulgence prior to Ash Wednesday and the begining of fasting until Easter.
Take your pick. I don't think anyone here cares what others believe about it as long as everyone celebrates.
I was invited to a Fastnacht party at the kindergarten. Everyone was really excited about it so I decided I should step out of my one room comfort zone and give it a shot. I had no idea what I was in for!
Well, here I am after the party! A sweet co-worker of mine gave me this hat and nose as well as some facepaint so that I would fit in with the others. I was not informed that this was a full costume party!
All I will say is that there was a lot of singing, dancing, chanting, laughing, eating, drinking and music (The children were not there by the way). At one point I did in fact participate in a group performance of the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way". Our team won and there was an encore and our prize was a mini bottle of Kräuter Likor. I think I will just save it for memoribilia of my once in a lifetime experience.
In a million years I never would have imagined myself enjoying German cuisine with a group of German women singing and chanting in German while dressed in ridiculous costumes and having a ball. If only I understood half of what was said/sung/recited/yelled/celebrated last night : )
HELAU! HELAU! HELAU!
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