The German Way - Fasching

If you see store clerks dressed up in costumes around last weeks of February or the first weeks of March, don't worry about going crazy, it's Fasching time. Fasching means Carnival. It has pagan roots (sort of like Halloween), and originally celebrated the end of winter and the start of field works (kind of like pagan Russian Maslenitsa). Later, it got tied up to Catholic Church's tradition to let people go nuts before the beginning of the Easter Lent.

In Catholic Italy they call it Carnival (from "carne" - meat), meaning that it's the time to give up meat (which is what Lent is all about). In Louisiana there is a French version of this celebration - Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday - when it's your last chance to pig out before the Lent. In Brazil, their revealing body parts are dancing samba through the streets, celebrating carnal nature of things or carnival. Get it? "Carnal" and "Carnival"? No matter how it's called, it's what they call Fasching in German, or the celebration that lets people go crazy for a day.

I heard Bavaria has the biggest Fasching celebrations in all of Germany, but I don't know, I have nothing to compare it with. All I know is that there are isles of Halloween (pardon, Fasching) costumes in every store, and Krapfen doughnuts sold on every corner. German schools are usually off during Fasching, and Tuesday is a day off for shops and businesses, even grocery stores are closed. This makes it a bit hard to show off your costume. But I saw a Grandpa dressed up as a bird riding his bicycle, I saw three witches on the streets of Garmisch, kids in costumes eating ice-cream and a dozen dressed up skiers.

What comes after Tuesday Fasching celebration is also worth mentioning. Ash Wednesday is when people go to Church and repent of all the stupid stuff they did over the Fasching (you see, there are some naughty parties in Munich, which I was not invited to and learned about via internet as I was reading up on Fasching.) Catholics also like to give something up until Easter: if not beer, then schnitzel, if not schnitzel, then knodel.

Whatever my kids attempted to give up, they could not give up school during Fasching. They could still dress up though. On Tuesday, David wore his cowboy vest inside out (I sewed on fake fur on the inside). He wanted to look like a Viking, straight from the isle of Berk. Nadia did not feel like dressing up, but attempted to give up sweets. She lasted for about 2 days.

The school provided krapfen doughnuts for all the students, and then my kids had some more at home. Most krapfen doughnuts have jam or cream inside. Some rare ones have musturd inside for surprise (that must be why when you buy 4, they give you 1 for free.) See, Germans can be funny.