Fasnacht Wrap-up

 

This morning concluded the 72-hours of Fasnacht in Basel. All three days have parades. We took part in the Tuesday celebration, which is Children and Family Day in Basel. Floats, bands, and families march around the city and throw lots of candy, some oranges, stuffed animals and even vegetables like carrots and onions. Many of the floats are pulled by tractors, and have a "Sujet" or theme, often political in nature. For example, there were many BP floats for this year (costumes included "greasy" ducks).  Smaller groups use wagons to carry goodies, confetti and/or children. Everything about the event is so colorful in this otherwise quiet city -- the masks, the confetti (or Räppli as it is called) was all so much to take in. Children were all dressed in costumes too. 

I thought we had seen a lot of confetti during the school parades two weeks earlier. No, confetti was a central part of the Tuesday parade and by the early evening, we couldn't see the pavement and we brought quite a bit home with us. I'm sure we'll be finding confetti in the house for a while. The active participants in the parade would even taunt people with candy and once the recipient grabbed a piece, they would get confetti thrown in their face! Kids and adults alike would carry a tool similar to a strainer on a pole and use it to dump confetti onto onlookers. No one was spared! I thought that the Fasnacht pin (Blaggedde or plaquette)  that we wore would save us, but I was "attacked" with confetti once from the Waggis. The Waggis are the costumed participants as shown below, with wild hair, and generally big noses. (The wearer sees through the nostrils.)

Waggi with a large noisemaker

There are also Gugge, or marching brass bands, that march in the parades. There is a concert on Tuesday night where all of the Gugge come together in the Marktplatz to play. We saw the beginning of this on our way home, and the music was great --- something like a pep rally. The music during the day parade was primarily piccolos and drums. The participants seem to all wear large wooden shoes as well, that click-clack as they walk by with the music. 

I would highly recommend this event. Basel is literally open for 72-hours straight. From what I understand, it's unlike other Carnivale celebrations in that it is less about partying, and more about traditions. Schools are off for at least a week around this time to celebrate, and there is much preparation that goes into it. Honestly, I can't wait to take part in more of the event next year!