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British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
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Fasnacht
in Basle by Hedva Anbar If you plan to be in the vicinity of Basle, in the North West corner of Switzerland adjacent to France and Germany, try to get there at the beginning of March, so that you can experience Fasnacht. This annual three-day festival, a Protestant adaptation of the Roman Catholic carnival, takes place a week later during Lent in an atmosphere which fuses ritual with abandon, discipline with chaos and sophisticated artistry with childish mischief. Fasnacht grants the city's inhabitants - modest, restrained, courteous and laid back throughout most of the year - a licence for exhibitionism, inquisitiveness, jealousy, malice and other equally alien behaviour traits. Buy a gold, silver or bronze Blagedde (badge), representing the Motto (theme which usually has a specifically local significance) chosen for that year and wear it as a sign of support. Get up early on Monday morning and make your way to the Marktplatz in front of the 16th century Town Hall where the festivities start at the stroke of 4.00 am. The street lights are extinguished and the Morgenstraich (morning parade) starts. Cliques (groups) appear from all directions, flautists and drummers in magnificent costumes, their feet in clogs, outrageous masks on their faces and lighted lanterns, decorated to represent the themes selected by the different cliques, on their heads. The members of the cliques change their outfits and masks before they assemble for the cortege (procession) at 1.30pm on Monday afternoon. This time they follow pre-planned routes through the city streets, together with Guggenmusig (brass band) musicians playing out-of-tune but recognisable pieces on old dented instruments, and floats with Waggis from neighbouring Alsace who throw fruit, vegetables, sweets and confetti at the spectators. Clique representatives distribute Schnitzelbangg (satirical verse) in the local Swiss-German dialect, which has no agreed system of spelling, on the clique themes. On Monday evening all the lanterns are displayed in the Munsterplatz in front of the Minster, where they remain for the following two days, groups rove through the streets entertaining the crowds and crowds invade the local restaurants to order traditional flour soup and listen to Schnitzelbangg. On Tuesday the clique members put on the costumes they wore the previous year and the children's parade takes place. In the evening there are concerts in the city's main squares, where each brass band is allocated a ten minute slot. On Wednesday there is another cortege and again groups rove through the streets and crowds fill the restaurants until Fasnacht ends at 4am or 5am on Thursday morning. Enjoy yourselves but don't forget yourselves. Bear in mind the injunctions in the leaflet distributed by the Basle Tourist Office: "by all means laugh and have fun, but remember, half masks, painted faces, false noses and Narrenkappen (fools' headgear) are frowned upon... don't pick any confetti up from the street... refrain from talking during a recitation even if you fail to understand it or find it funny." As spectators
you will have three days of fun. For the insiders, Fasnacht is a year
round activity. After a short break they will again start meeting regularly
to choose the following year's theme and get it agreed by the Fasnacht
committee, design new costumes, design new masks and lanterns, write new
verses, practise the flute and drum, prepare for concerts and enjoy the
comradeship of kindred spirits from the inner core of Basle society. |