The Travels of Garmisch: Fastnacht

Fastnacht is what the Germans call Fat Tuesday (which Americans also call Mardi Gras). And, it's kind of a big deal here. There are celebrations and parades and people buy costumes and get dressed up for up to a week before the actual Fastnacht. I think this makes up for their lack of Halloween - the kids all get dressed up for Fastnacht too and they gather up candy that gets thrown to them from the parade.

I went to the Fastnacht parade in Bad Dürkheim today. There were booths set up in the downtown area selling the usual - sausages, wine, Glühwein in half-liter glasses ... lots of jolly people around that booth! And a Berliner booth so you could stuff your face with donuts today because after today they won't be back again until next year. :(

These were my favorite costumes. They were nice and bright and colorful and these people were dancing to the music too but I didn't film them as I didn't want to be rude.

And some cows:

And some smurfs.

There were a lot of fun costumes, all worn by adults, but I didn't want to go up to people and take their pictures randomly so you'll just have to believe me.

Here are some pictures from the parade. Lots of tractors pulling wagons filled with people (some children, some adults) handing out candy and other assorted goodies. I would like to note that none of the candy was chocolate and in most cases what was being handed out were actually small bags of popcorn and, in a few cases, bananas, onions, or chestnuts. There were small toys given out as well and my favorite person was the guy who was walking alongside the Kaiserslautern Football Club float with an open bottle of wine and a handful of paper cups. He just walked up to people, filled up a cup and offered it to them! I asked him to marry me but he said no. :( Here he is surprising this woman with a cup of wine:

There was also a Christmas wagon that went by where they were handing out small cups of Glühwein. But the picture I took of that one didn't come out so you'll have to come visit and see it for yourself.

I don't understand a lot of the costumes, what all these gold people or the flower people signify, if anything. I just took pictures to show you all how fun this parade was. Also what you can't hear here was a) all the music coming out of each of the wagons and b) all the people constantly shouting Hellooooooo at everybody. It was really funny.

The Kaiserslautern Football Club bus/wagon/float/whatever. I was hoping to get a T-shirt or scarf out of this group but they were handing out what looked like the season's schedule! And paper plates with "FCK" on them (which to be honest I find hilarious, why they couldn't find a way to make their name not look like a swear word I have no idea). Boooooooorrrrrrrrriiiiiiinnngg. Except for the guy pouring wine from this float, he was awesome.