Fasching
Bet you non-Germany-dwellers wonder what the title of this post means! That’s the German word for Carnival, which culminates next week in Rose Monday, Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday. The only things I know about this celebration is that it’s primarily Catholic and that on Wednesday we start the countdown to Easter. Can anyone else tell me more? What’s the big deal about “Fasching”?
on February 15th, 2007 at 17:14
Why yes Cheryl, I believe I can ;)
Not that I can speak specifically for the Germans of course, but as a born and bred Maastircht boy I can tell you that Carnival (or ‘Vastelaovend” as it is called in Maastricht) always takes place 40 days before Easter.
Traditiionally, people would start a period of fasting after Ash Wednesday, and the carnival was used as a big blowout for partying, eating and drinking before the dry spell of fasting.
I don’t know of any people who still do the fasting, but the whole city still does the partying ;)
It is said that it actually originated as a heathen festival, which then got easily appropriated by the Catholic Church.
More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival#Netherlands
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnaval
O, and don’t let anyone fool you, it is NOT possible to properly celebrate Carnival anywhere in the Netherlands but in the South ;)
on February 17th, 2007 at 1:24
Hey, I don’t know if you remember me. But I too am from Sidney, Ohio living in Germany!! Gauri sent me a message on myspace tell me you live in Germany, after I posted my bulletin about celebrating Fasching this weekend. So if you want to get together let me know! I live in Wiesbaden. Hopefully you will see my email address from posting this :) Enjoy your weekend!!