Traces of Fasnacht

Basel travelogue part I

As I mentioned in my previous post, since receiving work authorization in Germany, I have started working with the Millennium Campus Network as the Europe Regional Manager. One exciting part of this role is that it allows for a certain amount of travel and within 3 days of starting with the organization, I found myself on the fast train to Basel, Switzerland, for a meeting important to the organization.

This was my first time in Basel, which I found to be quaint, walkable, and unique in its character. I arrived there at the end of February and found the traces of Fasnacht, also known as Karneval in other parts of the German-speaking world (you may remember me sharing about Paderborn’s Karneval traditions in one of my first posts) all around - in the confetti that had found a safe place to rest between the cobblestones, in the extravagantly thematic shop windows, and through the papier mache characters hanging out on the balconies. I went in knowing next to nothing about Fasnacht (including when it was celebrated) but took pictures of things that seemed to be connected and, lo and behold, the internet had the explanations I was looking for!

See the charming confetti remnants?

This photo from a tea store window holds so many Fasnacht riches:

• For one, you can see the advertisement is written in Swiss German, which I am guessing means “London Tea warms you up before Easter - Fasnachts Tee” (I cannot be certain, and anyone who speaks Swiss German - please help out).

• It refers to this time as “Fasnacht” - which is the more typical term for Mardi Gras used in parts of southern Germany and Switzerland, especially Basel - as opposed to Karneval, which would be the name for this holiday in the part of Germany where we live. I found this so comforting, since Fasnacht is what I grew up with (if you’re one of my few non-PA followers, in PA Dutch culture, a fasnacht is a donut made specifically on the day before Ash Wednesday. Somewhere along the line we stopped calling the day Fasnacht and instead transposed that term onto the treats. I was lucky enough to grow up with a Nana who made dozens of Fasnachts and hand delivered them to each of our houses every year on Mardi Gras!

• Placed throughout are scaled-down examples of the “Larve”, the enormous masks that are worn to obscure the identities of the participants as they parade during Fasnacht.

• It has a scattering of the confetti and paper curls thrown at Fasnacht - apparently enough to leave a centimeters high layer on the ground!

These lanterns in what appears to be a custom stamp and seal store (only in Europe…) are mini versions of another Fasnacht tradition - when approximately 200 huge lanterns are displayed in the square next to the primary church in Basel. These lanterns usually correspond to the theme of one of the ‘cliques’ (sort of like a New Orleans krewe) that will appear in the Fasnacht parade.

The whole confetti-on-the-streets thing has also made these whole punched confettis into a signifier of Fasnacht - so much so that these folks decided to decorate their house door as well!

A bit hard to see, but on the balcony of this building there are figures pretending to play brass instruments, likely intended to depict a Guggenmusik band.

It turns out that the Fasnacht of Basel differs a bit from the Karneval celebrations elsewhere in Switzerland, as well as in the Ruhrgebiet of Germany (incl. Paderborn) in that it begins on the Monday after Ash Wednesday (this has to do with a quirk of history that sets it apart as the “Farmers Fasnacht” and with that, I present to you this Wikipedia wormhole I traveled down to find that out). It also seems to have it own very specific traditions - I can only imagine these offered a strong argument in it becoming awarded the designation of “intangible cultural heritage” by UNESCO.

I am sure there is much more to know about Basler Fasnacht given my cursory experience in the city and that only after the official festival, so if you have experience with Fasnacht in Basel or elsewhere, I’d love your additions!