Tag: fasnacht

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Fasnacht 2014… Time to Go Costume-Crazy…

i just looked back on the posts i have written for this very famous and fabulous celebration of Spring’s coming. i was very surprised to note that even though i have lived here for more than 10 years and have been blogging for the last 8 years, i have only written 2 little posts about it. (Read here and here) i guess it’s cos we don’t really take part in it.

This year, again, Fasnacht falls during school term so the kids get to wear their costumes to school on March 4th. Every year the date changes because Fasnacht follows the Church calendar even though it is not a Christian celebration. It usually happens during the few days before Ash Wednesday. It’s tradition lay in the idea of scaring away winter and welcoming Spring. It is also a time of feasting before the time of Lent fasting. There are other regions of Switzerland which celebrate it on a different week, such as Basel which just ended their Fasnacht celebrations yesterday. Zürich is another region which doesn’t have this Spring celebration till some time in April – they call it Sechseläuten. They also burn the Böögg which is said to predict how warm and long a summer we would have.

Tobias decided that this year he wanted to go to the big parade. We usually don’t go cos it’s so crowded (mummy doesn’t like) and loud (boy usually doesn’t like). We went and it was actually quite fun.

Here are some pictures (i had to pick just a few from the 161 i took):

Tobias went as Robin Hood this year. He had wanted to go as Legolas but he decided too late for me to make the costume so we bought this one at the last minute. It's cute, isn't it?
Tobias went as Robin Hood this year. He had wanted to go as Legolas but he decided too late for me to make the costume so we bought this one at the last-minute. It’s cute, isn’t it?
Left: On the bus we saw a blue monster, a green monster and a red tomato ;) Right: Kids wanting impatiently for the parade to start.
Left: On the bus we saw a blue monster, a green monster and a red tomato 😉 Right: Kids wanting impatiently for the parade to start.
This poor gal got dunked into confetti - not once but TWICE!
This poor gal got dunked into confetti – not once but TWICE!
Some of our favourites... i so love the giant hats and the pin-cushion kids :)
Some of our favourites… i so love the giant hats and the pin-cushion kids 🙂
No one was left out - babies and wheelchairs - all are welcomed!
No one was left out – babies and wheelchairs – all are welcomed!
More favourites - the Marios were really very good and those kids as planes are so cute. That helicopter actually does go up and down.
More favourites – the Marios were really very good and those kids as planes were so cute. That helicopter actually did go up and down.
SHOT OF THE DAY - we got shot by a confetti cannon, right in the face!
SHOT OF THE DAY – we got shot by a confetti cannon, right in the face!
The last group was the cleaning ladies with real soap suds/bubbles.
The last group was the cleaning ladies with real soap suds/bubbles.
However, the cleaning ladies didn't do a very good job - hahhaa...
However, the cleaning ladies didn’t do a very good job – hahhaa…
We met Tobias' friend on the bus home. His family comes from Basel and this is the costume they will wear at that Fasnacht parade. They take the kids out of school every year, just to enjoy the fun in their home city - that's how important this celebration is to them :)
We met Tobias’ friend on the bus home. His family comes from Basel and this is the costume they will wear at that Fasnacht parade. They take the kids out of school every year, just to enjoy the fun in their home city – that’s how important this celebration is to them 🙂

Looking forward to next year’s Fasnacht!

syc

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Fasnacht… the Swiss Carnival…

Solothurn, the Swiss town we live in, just finished its annual Fasnacht celebrations on Wednesday.

What is Fasnacht? Well, it is simply the Swiss Carnival – the one time in the year in which the Swiss let loose and go a little lot crazy! Like carnival all over the world, it’s a time for costumes and loud music and drinking and parades and just plain good o’ fun. Of course, there is tradition to consider and tradition says that all this isn’t just fun. It has a purpose – to scare away winter. But traditions in Switzerland are very localised so here in Solothurn they may say “scare away winter”, somewhere else, they would say “Welcoming Spring” – potato, po-ta-toe 😉

i simply enjoy how people are so into this Fasnacht affair. They – the serious ones – prepare months in advance, planning costumes and rehearsing songs with their Guggen Music Bands. Then they take to the streets in the wee hours of morning and party for the next few days! However, i do not enjoy crowds so i watch from the comforts of my living room on the telly. Here are some photos (which others have taken) for you to enjoy. Also a video.

Actually, this year i did more than watch it on TV. i made a costume this year! The last costume i made was a number of years ago when we went as spectators to the Children’s Parade in Bern with a friend. i painted a cardboard box blue, added tails and wings and Tobias went as a plane.

This time at school, the 1st and 2nd grade teachers had planned a party for the kids so they were to go in costume. Guess who Tobias wanted to go as… here are a couple of pictures to help you figure it out…

Isn't he just a cutie in those poses?

That’s right – Harry Potter!

We went around town looking for pre-made costumes and found only one shop selling a Harry Potter outfit. But my oh my! The costs! If i had bought the whole set (cloak and glasses and wand), it would have set us back some CHF70/. There was no way i was going to spend so much on something which is most likely only going to be worn a couple of times. But i didn’t have time to make (we were going on ski holiday). So the compromise – we bought the cloak, i made the wand, Daddy popped the lens out of an old pair of glasses and there we have the Harry Potter look completed.

Here’s a close-up of the glasses and the home-made wand (it’s made out of paper and glue and paint – here’s how).

Homemade Harry Potter Glasses and Wand

i was really quite pleased with the whole costume. Tobias was the only Harry Potter at the party – he was chaffed 😉 He also got to actually go to the “real” parade with a friend (Mummy had to stay home and finish her overdue German homework).

i wonder what he’ll want to be next year…

syc