Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht
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The Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht, Fasnacht (in
.Etymology
Overview
Fastnacht is held in the settlement area of the Germanic tribes of the Swabians and Alemanni, where Swabian-Alemannic dialects are spoken. The region covers German Switzerland, the larger part of Baden-Württemberg, Alsace, south-western Bavaria and Vorarlberg (western Austria).
The festival starts on the Thursday before
Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht distinguishes itself from the Rhenish
The Fastnacht cycle
Start: January 6th
The program of the coming Fastnacht is announced in public meetings, e.g. in Bad Saulgau or Bonndorf, and in other towns like Waldkirch and Löffingen people gather in jesters’ meetings to discuss organizational details. A special type of jesters’ meetings, however, has been by far the most popular type of meetings for centuries. These are meetings of several thousands of jesters, and they take place almost every weekend in the weeks after Epiphany.
In many places, jesters will produce deafening noise using whips, or shaking the bells on the Häser (costumes) until they can be sure that every little bit of dust has fallen out; cleanliness is generally of great importance on January 6. In the area of the upper Neckar, “Abstauber” with black clothes will go door to door to clean the mothballed jesters' clothes. In Rottenburg am Neckar, witches will conduct a similar procedure on the guests and furniture of local inns.
Therefore, the so-called “Fiaßwäsch“ (washing of the feet) takes place in Lauffen ob Rottweil where the jester's council wash their feet in the ice-cold water of the fountain. At the same time, the jester's masks take pride of place in the livingrooms of
Candlemas
The number of Fastnacht events again is noticeably increasing everywhere by the 40th day after Christmas, the Candlemas on February 2. On this day, it is common to do the Maschgern (Oberschwaben), the Strählen (Villingen), the Schnurren (Schwarzwald), the Welschen (Schömberg), the Hecheln (Oberndorf) or the Aufsagen: the jesters choose the most remarkable incidents of the last year to retell them to the people in an entertaining way.
Although in some places the Fastnacht celebrations already begin on November 11, as is common in the Rhenish regions, in Swabian-Allemanic areas, Fastnacht events typically only start off after the festive days following Christmas - on January 6, which is also Epiphany.
Drawing on an old custom, this is the day when the masks get a dusting and the first events and parades can begin. Strictly speaking, Fastnacht only begins with Fat Thursday (the Thursday before Ash Wednesday), which is the climax of the celebrations and the time when the parades and other celebrations become more frequent. There are also a number of recipes that are traditionally cooked at that time.
Accordingly, to many Swabian-Allemanic Jesters the date when Fastnacht begins marks a crucial distinctive feature to
The beginning of Fastnacht is celebrated full-throatedly in many places.
People used to wear masks and perform various songs and plays, for example, murder ballads. It was also common to gloss the actions of the fellow citizens at the roadside. Today the people meet in pubs at fixed times and the undisguised jesters go from pub to pub together. The commonly used forms of expression are four-liners and songs. Although the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht basically takes place in pubs in restaurants, there is a short period of Fastnacht sessions inside of halls after Candlemess (Lichtmess). Local clubs contribute to Fastnacht by organizing dancing events.
Wednesday before Fastnacht
Originally, the Wednesday before Fastnacht has not been a traditional holiday for the Swabian-Alemannic jesters. However, during the post-war era, some customs have been established that are celebrated in the early evening and herald the time of Fastnacht. Parts of these customs are the proclamation (German Ausrufen) or search (German Suche) for Fastnacht in the Black Forest area, as well as the incantation of the masks (German Maskenbeschwörung) or the fountain-cleaning ritual in Upper Swabia.
Thursday
Schmotziger Donnerstag which in the Alemannic dialects means "lard-laden Thursday " (from Schmotz meaning
Determination of Fastnacht-Tuesday
Fastnacht-Tuesday is the day (respectively the night) before Lent, which always starts on Ash Wednesday. The date of the Ash Wednesday is strictly regulated. It is constantly located 46 days before Easter Sunday, which in turn is celebrated on the first Sunday after the earliest full moon in spring.
Old Fastnacht, Buurefasnacht
Despite the reforms of the Council of Benevento, which had brought forward the date of the beginning of
In these areas, Fastnacht continued to be celebrated just under a week later on Monday: these customs still exist today, being preserved either as "Alte" or "Bauernfastnacht" ("old" or "peasants' Fastnacht"; alemannic: "Buurefastnacht"). Fastnacht was then frequently celebrated twice; the first Fastnacht, which ended on Ash Wednesday, was often called "Herren-" or "Pfaffenfastnacht" ("lords'" or "parsons' Fastnacht") to differentiate it from the Bauernfastnacht.
Groppenfastnacht
The Groppenfastnacht in
History
Origin in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age
Just like the carnival common in the Rhineland, the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht takes its origins from festivities, which were celebrated to consume perishable food before the beginning of lent. These kind of events have been recorded in central Europe from at least the 13th century. Historically, the festivities would vary from region to region, and the Fastnacht of the present day has notable differences to its historical counterparts. In addition to the excessive consumption of food, customs including dances, parades or Fastnacht games became popular since the 14th century. Food played a central role as well. In the parades of the Nuremberg guilds, the so-called “Schembartläufe”, were popular around 1500 AD. Butcher's dances, which featured the dancing butchers holding sausage rings, are also known from other cities.
A theory of the folklorist Dietz-Rüdiger Moser says that the conflict between the amusement/enjoyment of Fastnacht and the deprivation of Lent can also be interpreted in a theological way. Whereas, according to the augustinian two kingdoms doctrine, Fastnacht was equated with the kingdom of the devil “civitas diaboli”, Lent was seen as part of the kingdom of God or “civitas Dei”. This idea might have led to the invention of early Fastnacht figures such as devils and demons. The jester, who was considered as another central figure of Fastnacht at that time, was seen as the embodiment of evanescence, separation from god and death. Whereas studies conducted before and during the 1980s assumed that Fastnacht did not originate from Christian beliefs, scholars today agree that the existence of the church was a necessary condition for the emergence of Fastnacht. Fastnacht was an opportunity for the people to criticise authorities and also the church. This often led to prohibitions of Fastnacht.
Following the reformation, not only the period of fasting was dispensed with in the regions affected, but also the Fastnacht celebrations came to an end in many parts of Central Europe. Despite this, the tradition was still kept alive in individual protestant towns for some time. The Carnival of Basel is often presumed to be held at a later point than in other Swabian-Allemanic towns as a result of the reformation. In fact this is due to a decision made by the church in the 11th century, stating that Sundays were to be excluded from Lent. As a consequence, Ash Wednesday was preponed by six days. Basel (and also some other towns) however still held on to the traditional day.
Before
Carnival and its renunciation
Despite its revaluation during Baroque, Fastnacht was thought to be a "primitive, outdated custom from the dim and distant past" in the Enlightenment. Due to that common point of view, celebrating Fastnacht stopped or was even forbidden. This changed when, influenced by Romanticism, carnival started to develop.
Beginning in cities like Cologne, where Fastnacht was increasingly being organized by the intellectual middle class instead of the working class, carnival quickly established itself throughout central Europe. The original Fastnacht still existed, but was driven back more and more. Only at the beginning of the 19th century some old customs were picked up again; especially in rural areas and in the lower middle class in the Swabian-Alemannic area, people felt patronized by carnival, which was dominated by the educated middle class, and started remembering traditions passed down from previous generations. In the subsequent period, numerous old Narrenzünfte were re-established.
Until today, the
Development into modern Fastnacht
Up until the 20th century Fastnacht was only a local event that was celebrated solely at one's hometown. At the beginning of the 20th century the jester guilds started to organize and form jester's unions. This led to the founding of the Vereinigung Schwäbisch-Alemannischer Narrenzünfte in 1924. Forming this nationwide umbrella organization was necessary because of the unstable political situation and many regional Fastnacht bans. By creating the VSAN the jesters wanted to actively represent their political interests. Furthermore, they wanted to foster and preserve their culture, which is the main task of the organization today. After its establishment the VSAN quickly became popular to such an extent, that it had to stop accepting new members.
Numerous new Fastnacht characters have been created since the beginning of the 20th century alongside the organizational reform of the fool's guilds. Real historical
Characters
The Swabian-Allemannic Fastnacht has gained a vast number of different characters. When they perform they usually appear in homogenous groups of one type of character. However, there are a few groups that consist of various characters. In most cases they interact with each other. A popular way of interaction is the tradition of the driver. Here, an animal character is chastised by a group of characters that are covered by masks and equipped with a whip. These specific types of masks are called Häs. Examples for this particular tradition are the Fastnetsbutzerössle in Weingarten, the Brieler Rößle in Rottweil and Werners Esel in Bad Waldsee. In some areas there are exclusive characters, which often play a central part in the local Fastnacht tradition. Over the course of time entire character families have been developed through these special characters. The members of such families hold certain characteristics and functions. One example is the Gole in Riedlingen.
Daemon figures
Daemon figures may well be counted among the oldest figures of traditional Fasnacht. Some of the costumes (called "Kleidle" in German) are several hundred years old, like the Schuttig of Elzach, a devilish figure that used to be widespread in parts of the Black Forest. Today, these daemons often also play the solitary part of a warlock, for example in Offenburg's guild of witches. And Triberg's Fastnacht is dominated by a devil figure that was created in the 19th century.
Jesters
Narren (Jesters) probably appeared at the same time like demon figures and in various forms. In the
Legendary figures
One could also say that a lot of the post-war newly created Fastnacht figures attribute to the Wild Peoples (Wilde Leute). The legendary figures often allude to local stories or past events in history. Most of the younger Jester Guilds lace their newly created figures into current local customs by telling a legend or story related to the old traditions.
Witches
The same also often holds true for
Animal figures
In addition to the Hairy Bears (hoorigen Bären), there is the Night Raven (der Nachtkrabb), a bird-like figure that also belongs to the carnival characters of the Murrhardt Jester Guild. They can be found on a mural in the Murrhardt Monastery.
Maschker
At several places along the Danube it is likely to meet single or small groups of carnival revelers who appear to be masked and represent themselves differently. Especially, this can be observed in restaurants or just on the roads of Ehingen, Mühlheim and particularly Munderkingen. Traditionally, it is mostly women who wear these masks appearing with a slogan. Usually, small presents, so called Kromet, are given to unmasked passerbies. The tradition of the Maschkers is several centuries old. Most figures came into existence with the introduction of clubs and therefore a more organised Fasnacht. Hence, Maschkers represent beside the organised Fasnacht activities also a not organised addition.
Customs
Fools' calls
The Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht fools' calls are more recent and analogous to the traditional battle cries (Alaaf, Helau, Ahoy, ...) of the large carnival cities. The fools traditionally greet others with a shriek of delight, something they explain to be a spontaneous expression of joy, which could be documented in writing as "Ju-Hu-Hu-Hu". In Rottweil and a few others the fool's call kept the original form (Hu-Hu-Hu). Elsewhere certain fools' calls emerged from the Fastnachts since World War II, and from time to time even became an identifying feature of the carnival. The most well-known call of the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht is "Narri-Narro", where the masked figures call out to the civilians.
The fools' calls are unique and different depending on the places and guilds which they are from.
Narrenmarsch
The events of the Fastnacht are often accompanied by dedicated music, the so-called Narrenmärsche
Switzerland
In
- Bernese Fassnacht
- Liestal (Chienbäse)
- Lucerne (Lozärner Fasnacht)
The Lucerner Fasnacht, based on religious, Catholic backgrounds, starts every year on the Thursday before Aschermittwoch (
See also
- Carnival of Basel
- Carnaval (in the Netherlands)
- Der Überlinger Hänsele
- Fasnacht (observances in the United States)
- Guggenmusik
- Pre-Christian Alpine traditions
References
- ^ Kreichthaler, Peter and Sigmund Hans. Hexen, Lalli, Flecklehäs. Verlag Herder Freiburg, 2007, p. 8.
- ISBN 3879402051
- ^ a b c "Woher hat der Schmutzige Donnerstag seinen Namen?". Regionalzeitung Rontaler AG (in German). 17 February 2013. Retrieved 2015-02-07.
- ^ a b Mask of an "ugly Percht"
- ^ "Geschichte der Basler Fasnacht" (in German). Altbasel.ch. 24 January 2009. Retrieved 2015-02-07.
Pierre Farine sieht ihre Geburtsstunde mit dem Beginn der fasnächtlichen Berichterstattung durch die Presse 1835
External links
- Typical pictures of the Alemannic folklore Fasnacht (in German)
- Alemannic Fastnacht (pictures and informative English texts)