Fasnacht! Otherwise known as Carnival to the rest of the world…

So we went to our 1st KinderFasnacht Umzug – Kids Fasnacht Parade.

1st a tiny bit of info about Fasnacht – it is carnival season all over Europe – but i think it is biggest in German-speaking countries/areas. So people get dressed up in outlandish costumes & join parades & play Guggemusic (basically ordinary people getting together to form a band – they take their Guggemusic very seriously!) Why? Well, some say it’s to break from the long winter (or what used to be a cold long winter). Most say it’s traditionally the big celebration before the fasting season of Lent – sort of a finally big bang before we get serious & solemn. Whatever the real reason, it is a time for big colourful parties with lots of noise & drinking & eating. The Swiss seriously let their hair down & party till the wee hours & simply go crazy 😉 The normally serious, quiet & peace-loving people of Switzerland do have another side – hahahhaa 😉

i couldn’t find a website with general info on this celebration & each big city has it’s own celebration at slightly different times & most sites are in German – i found only 1x in English – it is said that the one in Basel is the biggest & the best in the country – so check it out.

Now back to our KinderFasnacht Umzug – we didn’t go to the one in our city of Solothurn – we missed it. So we went to the one in Bern today with a friend & her little gal. The kids were a little overwhelmed at 1st by the sheer number of people in strange outfits & loud funny music – but they warmed up & had a nice time.

Here’s a couple of photos (of cos we dressed the kids up – that’s part of the fun):
Here’s Tobias the Airplane & Cera the Bee:
(Tobias’s costume is home-made!)