I nodded like I knew what that meant. Then I googled.
Carnival is the equivalent to Mardi Gras in many ways. It is celebrated on Shrove Tuesday and is a time to celebrate and be wild before the period of Lent, a festival to drive away demons, and a celebration marking the end of winter. Then as I started to ask more questions, I learned that the Swiss carnival season is known as Fasnacht in Switzerland’s German-speaking areas. Fasnacht, in German, literally means “The night before Lent begins.”
One article I read stated “In February you can start to feel Swiss carnival fever roll across the country. Carnival in Switzerland is a license for the normally well-behaved Swiss to let their hair down; it is when chaos and merriment reign.”
And let their hair down, they do!
Olivia’s Daycare let the kids dress up every day of the week, and most days she came home with her face painted from the activities.
We took alot of baths this week!
One of the deeply rooted traditions of Fasnacht is a "Guggenmusik" band which is a group of people playing loud music and typically wearing costumes and masks. It is hard to arrive at a single definition of Guggenmusik, as various regions have their own traditions. Besides the traditional brass instruments like trumpet, tuba, trombone, and/or sousaphone as well as drums, today almost any other "loud" instrument may be in use: steel drum, bagpipe, piccolo, clarinet, saxophone, etc.One thing they all have in common is that they play very rhythmic music the 'wrong' way, with each band making its own characteristic "mistakes". There is at least one "Guggenmusik" band in each municipality in Liechtenstein, which says alot about how popular they are that we need 11+ of these bands for an area with a population approximately that of Farmers Branch.
On Fasnacht, one of the bands came to my office and played in our lobby. For an hour. I’m pretty sure you could hear it in every corner of the building.
And let their hair down, they do!
Olivia’s Daycare let the kids dress up every day of the week, and most days she came home with her face painted from the activities.
Charlotte’s school let them dress up for the actual day…and painted their faces.
We took alot of baths this week!
One of the deeply rooted traditions of Fasnacht is a "Guggenmusik" band which is a group of people playing loud music and typically wearing costumes and masks. It is hard to arrive at a single definition of Guggenmusik, as various regions have their own traditions. Besides the traditional brass instruments like trumpet, tuba, trombone, and/or sousaphone as well as drums, today almost any other "loud" instrument may be in use: steel drum, bagpipe, piccolo, clarinet, saxophone, etc.One thing they all have in common is that they play very rhythmic music the 'wrong' way, with each band making its own characteristic "mistakes". There is at least one "Guggenmusik" band in each municipality in Liechtenstein, which says alot about how popular they are that we need 11+ of these bands for an area with a population approximately that of Farmers Branch.
On Fasnacht, one of the bands came to my office and played in our lobby. For an hour. I’m pretty sure you could hear it in every corner of the building.
As if we hadn’t had enough celebrating, then the parades started.
The well-behaved Swiss let their hair down. Chaos and merriment reign.
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