Travel to Germany's Black Forest region for the Fasnet carnival

Fastnacht or fasnet is a holiday prior to Lent that sees a burst of colour on the streets of villages and towns in Germany’s famed Black Forest region that has insightful stories of tradition.

Here are some places that you can bookmark to soak up the festivities:

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Schramberg

My first stop on the fasnet trail was at Schramberg. As we entered it was hard to miss the festive vibe especially with the town decorated in festoons of red and green the main colours of the fasnet. We first headed for lunch at the Braustube Schraivogel tavern where a fasnet special menu was on offer. The specialty at Schramberg is the pretzels distributed to all and that too 25,000 in number. Everything here is king size and I am baffled when I am told that 1,200 people participate in the parade. The Schramberger Narro, The Schramberger Hansel, Da-Bach-Na-driver and the Schramberger Brüele are the most important Fasnet characters. The Hansels (fools) and Narros (jesters) parade through the town to the music of the town band while ringing their bells. As members of the Hansel guild, they place great value on continuing the tradition of the outward appearance of the fools and the mask and costume is checked to comply with the prescribed characteristics of the guild.

Rottweil

My next stop was at Rottweil, a city in southwest Germany in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.  The Swabian-Alemanic carnival starts exactly at 8am. with the horse riders holding the town banner and the town band, the carnival characters walking through the ‘Schwarzes Tor’ (the Black Gate). They move through the main streets to the Friedrich’s Square where the parade ends after two and a half hours. The ‘Abstauber’ (dusters) go through town and clean the dust from the ‘Narrenkleider’ (the clothes), the bells and masks to be prepared for Fasnet. On Fasnet Sunday the ‘Narrenregiment’ (carnivals guild) takes over the town government and declares their goals for the following days. After that ‘Ausscheller’ goes through the streets to share the latest news with everyone in town. In the afternoon the children’s parade takes place. One of the main characters here is the ‘Federahannes’ (Jack with feathers) who has a stick, which he uses for jumping. His tusks and his wide coat with feathers are his distinctive mark. He is one of the oldest figures of the fasnet and is rather playful and pulled my cap using his long stick! There are lots of horse bound people as well as a band that plays some country music that is lilting.

Sigmaringen

My next stop was at Sigmaringen, a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg for the Swabian-Alemannic Fasnet or the historic ‘Bräuteln’, which is an old expression for getting married that is celebrated here. Each year on Fasnet-Tuesday the ‘Bräutlingsgesellen’ carry men who have got recently married, or men who celebrate their wedding anniversary on a padded bar to the well at Sigmaringen’s market square. Each of these are carried by a padded pole around the town fountain while they throw sausages, pretzels, or sweets at the audience. The festival originated during the 30 year war in 1648, where the war left the common people in bad shape, and getting married was the last thing on their mind. To promote weddings, the mayor promised newlywed men that they would be carried around the fountain in style and this carried on and soon became tradition. The parade always starts with the man who’s been married the longest and ends with the man who has been married the shortest. The parade itself has some colourful characters like the Narrenzunft Vetter Guser or brown bats. The highlight is the big community meal in the local hall with lots of good food and excellent music by the band.

Villingen Schwenningen

The fasnet in Villingen Schwenningen is a historic ‘Maschgerlelauf’ (parade) of the ‘Narrozunft’, a local guild that aims to preserve and promote the historic carnival. The wooden masks (Schemen), the costumes and other accessories are taken out of the wardrobe and prepared for the ‘fifth season’. The high days of carnival start on ‘Fat Thursday’ and is the day for the children’s carnival in this region. They have their own parade through the main streets of the city, cheered by a multitude of spectators. The other parades, on Monday and Tuesday in Villingen, are staged by numerous, partly ancient historic guilds and marching bands, presenting a very colourful and most enjoyable event for several hours. The carnival figures, such as the symbol figure ‘Narro’ was created in the 18th century and is a true aristocrat among these historic figures. The ‘Stachi’ is like the Narro, without the shoulder belts of heavy brass bells and the painted shirt of the Narro, is clad in a blue coachman shirt and chases in big groups the ‘Butzesel’, which is a goblin figure with a donkey’s head. The ‘Morbili’ often accompanies the Narros or Stachis but is also seen in smaller or larger groups. The colourful sights are something to behold here.

Elzach

A town about 30 kilometres northeast of Freiburg has a fasnet whose main character is called the ‘Schuttig’ and the parade has more than 1,000 of them with four orchestras. The fool Schuttig, with his fiery red rat’s tail gown, the snail hat with the ‘Wollbollen’ and the easily startled wood larva considered as a late descendant of the ‘Wild Man’, are part of the carnival. The Schuttig from Elzach are not just among the most original, but also one of the oldest figures of carnival in the Black Forest and throughout southern Germany. 

Behind the mask, Schuttig uses green felt to conceal their ears and heads and are allowed to make a glottal growl or articulate in falsetto speech as they are not to be identified. They will never take off their masks while being in public. 

Another character is the Fratz with a brown mask with a grimacing mouth, red lips, white teeth and black or brown bangs. 

The oldest Fasnet masks are the ‘Mundele’ and the ‘Langnase’ (long-nose) with painted black hair, moustaches, eyebrows, and lashes and red circles on the cheeks. Rägemolli is an important figure and his suit is made of burlap covered with painted black spots where a large sun and other symbols of fertility are painted on the back. All in all, this is a great way to interact and have fun with the locals soaking up the sights and sounds
of Elzach.