In SouthWest Germany, many towns particularly in the mostly southern Catholic regions from the Black Forest to Lake Constance, remember their annual celebrations of Fas’nacht: the time between Maundy Thursday and Shrove Tuesday when fools take to the streets and hilarity reigns.
Sometimes referred to as the end of the “Fifth Season,” from November 11 to Ash Wednesday, the five days before Lent from Maundy Thursday to Schrove Tuesday are a time of frivolity, hilarity, parades and foolery. In many parts of the mostly southern Catholic regions of SouthWest Germany, including Lake Constance and the Black Forest, the Fas’net traditions offer local color, costumes, parades, dialects and special recipes that go back hundreds of years. For planning purposes, here are some highlights that you can look forward to next year.
Just below the Hohenzollern Palace in the town Sigmaringen in the area of the Swabian Alb, Nauf auf d' Stang, nauf auf d' Stang cries on Shrove Tuesday mark the time of 10:00 a.m., when at the market fountain, the traditional marriage place for couples, all newly married men are carried around the fountain on a platform. In the town of Buchen, the highlight of the numerous events is the "Gänsmarsch," which takes place every carnival Sunday from 2:11 p.m. Masked foot groups come from all parts of the city and turn the parade into a fool's court, poking fun at current affairs and people from the region. Numerous "Huddelbätze," or jesters, dressed in colorful patchwork clothes made of hundreds of scraps of fabric, characterize the image of the "Carnival Night."
With 4,000 fools and 20,000 spectators in the town of Rottweil between Swabia and the Black Forest, the Rottweiler Narrensprung or Fool’s Jump, is one of the most famous events of the Swabian-Alemannic carnival year after year. On Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. and again on Shrove Tuesday at 2:00 p.m., the colorful dance of Rottweiler fools streams out of the Black Gate for a procession lasting several hours through the historic old town. Federahannes and Guller, Gschell and Schantle populate the town with their wooden masks and tease visitors along the roadside.
In the Black Forest town of Schiltach on Shrove Monday from 1:00 p.m., numerous imaginatively decorated wooden tubs roll in the ice-cold water "da Bach na." Forty teams are allowed to start every year. Anyone who makes it to the finish line with dry feet will be greeted with the call "Pforz trocke". If you fall "batsch wet" into the water, you certainly have the loud mockery of the spectators on your side.
Also in the Black Forest town of Elzach, the Schuttig is a jester figure with a red shaggy robe, an eerie wooden mask and a snail hat which is said to go back to the "wild men," who were considered winter demons in the Middle Ages. During the Great Schuttig Parade on Carnival Sunday and Tuesday (each at 3:00 p.m.) you can marvel at the numerous variations of the masks, which date back to the Baroque period. They have a particularly demonic effect during the torchlight parade on Sunday evening, when the entire old town is bathed in torchlight from 8:00 p.m.
Ho Narro!, Narri Narro!, Juhu! and Huhuhu! are cries from the fools who take to the streets in the towns around Lake Constance. Carnival marching bands, masquerade parties, balls and general revelry dominate the time before Ash Wednesday. Some towns and villages celebrate the Wecken, or Fool’s Rousing, when the fools prance through the streets in the early morning with fanfare and drums. Another tradition is Hemdglonker on Fat Thursday when everyone wears white night shirts and hats and parades through town. This stems from a time when students would reproach their teachers for their mistakes and weaknesses.
The children get their own fun on Monday in Constance during the Wurstschnappen, or sausage grab, after the children’s parade. And, in the spa town of Überlingen, a special parade, Hänselejuck, takes place on Saturday night when the Hänsele Fools are lit by Bengali flames and accompanied by Carnival musicians and hop and dance through the town snapping their whips and heckling the crowds on their way to the shores of Lake Constance.
Last but not least, if you are not able to visit SouthWest Germany during the carnival and Fas’net time, the towns are still very charming and there are at least four museums (websites in German) dedicated to the Fas’net traditions. Also, we are including links to Fas'nacht recipes and the making of the wooden masks and these pages are in English.
Fasnachtsmuseum Schloss Langenstein, Orsingen-Nenzingen fasnachtsmuseum.de
Fasnachtsmuseum Narrenschopf, Bad Dürrheim narrenschopf.de
Narrenmuseum Niggelturm, Gengenbach narrenmuseum-niggelturm.de
Fastnachtsmusem Narrenburg, Hettingen fastnachtsmuseum-narrenburg.de
Traditional Recipes: https://www.tourism-bw.com/things-to-do/wine-dine/traditional-doughnuts
Traditional Costumes and Masks: https://www.tourism-bw.com/things-to-do/culture/narri-narro
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