Fasching

Was ist fasching? (what is fasching?)
pre-Lenten festivities celebrated in grand style in mostly the predominantly catholic regions of the German-speaking countries.

How Is It Celebrated?
Soon after Fasching season opens, a mock government of eleven guilds (Zünfte) are elected, along with a carnival prince and princess who basically plan the carnival festivities. The biggest festivities are held the week before Ash Wednesday as follows:
Weiberfastnacht - Thursday before Ash Wednesday. This is mainly an event held in the Rhineland. The day begins with women storming into and symbolically taking over city hall. Then, women thoughout the day will snip off men's ties and kiss any man that passes their way. The day ends with people going to local venues and bars in costume.
Parties, Celebrations and Parades - People will celebrate in costume at various carnival community events and individual parties. Carnival parades abound, it is literally the weekend for people to live it up.
Rosenmontag - The largest and most popular carnival parades take place on the Monday before Ash Wednesday. These parades come mostly from the Rhineland region. People throughout the German-speaking countries will tune in to watch the biggest German carnival parade of all which is held in Cologne.
Fastnachtsdienstag - Besides some parades which are held on this day, you have the burial or burning of the Nubbel. A Nubbel is a life-size doll made of straw that embodies all of the sins committed during carnival season. It is buried or burned with great ceremony on Tuesday evening before everyone parties one more time till Ash Wednesday arrives.

What does that mean for us...lots of parades!  We have gone to 2 already and have 1 more tomorrow.  tomorrow's is really for the Americans.  I love running round with my friend Jutta because she always tells me who is American, where they live, and the cars they are driving.  I find this pretty funny since they (the military) stress a lot to practice operation security (Op Sec) and try to blend into the host country. 

There are some dead give aways though.  First, when we register our vehicles here, they give us license plate numbers that start with KL, this is uncommon in this part of Germany.  Furthermore, I have seen many vehicles that SCREAM "I AM FROM AMERICA!"  To include the huge Dodge Ram hemi with an Alabama roll tide sticker over his whole back window...probably not the best idea.

Then, German's have things called roladens.  These are like metal shutters that go on the outside of the windows and keep the sunlight out.  It is a little like the rolling doors that shops on the streets of NY City have to keep the people from breaking the glass and robbing them.  So, Germans put theirs down at night and put them up in the morning.  The Americans keep them down at all times (we do that, so we are very American).

Next, the clothes we wear.  Even when we try to dress like the locals, we wear our clothes different and they are different brands.  Also, we are built differently.  I have been watching the people the last few days, when I have been at these parades and one of only a handful of Americans.  They do not have the same body type as us, or even close.  They are slender and have great legs...us, not so much.  They have definitely given me some motivation.

I was telling Jutta that it was ok for the girls in Germany to dress in skimpy outfits because they are not so big.  She showed me a girl who was probably a size 12-14 and said "she not all the girls are small".  I didn't even know what to say!

Also at these parades is food!!!!!!  I am in love with the food, which makes it more difficult for me to meet my goal of shedding these pounds.  So, we have been eating some of the local food.

When Jutta picked us up for the first time, the day after we got here, she had a pretzel for H.  H loved it.  Now she loves them all the time.  Jutta's boys Jason and Justin make fun of how she eats it because she eats the soft part in the middle first and then the outside.

She has had a wurst, which she liked, German kinder tea (it really tastes like warm kool aid, but is really good!)  Today, they had a whole table of different stuff for the taking, with a small donation.

This place is crazy!!!

Then comes the parade!  They are not even kidding when they say you get a lot of candy.  Today, H was sleeping in the stroller and there were some kids trying to land the candy in her stroller, one made in in your arms.  Another guy came by and put two hand fulls on her belly.  The whole time, she didn't move.  It was so sweet, they didn't want her to be left out just because she was sleeping.

After the parade, we were walking back to one of the meeting points (Schnapps houses...where everyone stands around and drinks).  There was a lady (Jutta says American) who thought I was German and started talking to me in a mix of German and English.  It was even funnier because the words she knew in German, I knew too!  We just laughed.

More info tomorrow!  I am getting a whole new perspective on life and I WILL learn German.  We are putting H in German kindergarten (daycare) so I need to know what she is saying when she comes home and mutters things under her breath at me :)

more to follow!