Lessons in Fastnacht Fun
Fastnacht is coming to an end. What have we foreigners learned?
Fastnachtzeitungen
Fastnachtzeitungen (Carnival Newspaper in Swiss German) or Schnitzelbank (Satirical Sketches) are created in written or theatrical form to poke fun at local politics, local celebrities, politicians or simply each other. Nobody is immune. My boss made the front page one year.
After the employees left for lunch he started to shred documents, common for Liechtenstein secretaries, not for the bank directors. He understood the basics. He leaned over and put the documents in the shredder along with his tie. His BIG mistake occured when he hit the start button. As his neck was pulled closer to the modern day guillotine he hit stop. His head was inches away from the shredder knife and no matter what he tried, he could not escape his trap.
One-and-a-half hours later his secretary and savior, cut him loose. She held back the laughter until she reached her desk and immediately wrote her article for the “Fastnachzittig” (carnival newspaper).
My husband and his best friend made the Carnival Newspaper one year. They went together with the kids for a ski weekend. Before they left the apartment, they had to wash the dishes. As my husband always says, “no problem.”
They couldn’t find any dishwasher detergent so they put their university degrees to work to solve the problem. “We can use the regular detergent - we will just use a little more to make sure the dishes are clean.”
They locked the door and off they went. Thank goodness, one of the kids forgot something.
As they reached the front door they saw something creeping under the door. They opened the door and were greeted with a half meter high sea of foam, streaming from the kitchen eight meters away.
Let’s me just say, they spent the next few hours trapping and extinguishing bubbles. The old saying that something good comes out of everything; the apartment was as clean as a whistle. No problem.
So as you can see, we are not the only ones making mistakes. And we have one huge advantage; most of us don’t wind up in the Fastnachtzittig.
Funkesonntag
When Fastnacht ends, it goes down in flames - literally. The “Winterfunke” or “Funkesonntag” symbolizes the end of Fastnacht. Huge bonfires, built out of dried Christmas trees and timber are constructed in the form of a pyramid approximately three to five meters in height. The Böögg, a rag doll filled with gun powder is hung at the top of the tower. If the Böögg explodes before the tower falls, it said to bring good luck.
My personal highlight is the “Fackelzug”. At dusk, members of the community walk through the town with torches to light the bonfires. Other torchbearers hike 6900 feet to the mountaintops. It is truly magnificent to see the parade of torches ascending the mountains on both sides of the 50 kilometer valley. Once lit, you are surrounded by mountain candles in the winter sky and deep below, snaking through the valley along the Rhine, the Bonfires are booming as each Böögg explodes. The smell of distant smoke in the frosty winter air invites you to wrap up in a wool blanket and enjoy the natural fireworks. The spectacle ends the weeklong festivities with a deep sigh of exhaustion and is a quiet transition to normal everyday life.
Fastnacht in one word - Fun
Although my first experience wasn’t ideal, I have since learned that Fastnacht can be summarized in one word; fun! You are allowed to poke fun at anything or anyone, dress up and become someone else, flirt, escape the mundane, all in the name of fun. However, after Aschlermittwoch, the reserved, responsible Swiss citizen reenters its master and life returns to normal. The Swiss have taught me if you are bored do something about it. Don’t waste your precious time waiting to be entertained. As Sean Stephenson says in his book of the same name, “Get off Your ‘Buts’”, no more excuses get up and make your own fun. But be very careful, if you have too much fun or do something really embarrassing next year, maybe you will make the title page of the next year’s Fastnachzittig.
© Copyright Vicki Gabathuler, 2014