Never ever in my entire life, I had witnessed carnival, the first ever was a German carnival needless to say I was stoked! Before Carnival happened, I never saw or imagined Germany so much colorful and crazy. I mean literally crazy!!
The carnival translates to Fasnacht (meaning one night of being silly/foolish), and people show justice to this world a one thousand percent! Come on, who won’t be crazy hiding behind the masks? I felt this tradition- whenever it started, must have been a big necessary to bring out crazy souls behind socially conservative (before having a beer of course) and strict Germans (with some exceptions)!
Swabian-Alemannic carnival in the Black Forest!
We drove to the village called Gengenbach in Baden-Württemberg, where the big Fasnacht parade ( fool’s parade) was hosted. It had various performing groups participating from all over the Black Forest, Germany. This particular carnival was very much traditional and local to southwestern Germany and some parts of Switzerland.
Carnival Madness In Germany
Omg! This is unbelievable!
The participating group histories date back to 14th century! There are of course some new groups, But getting into any of the legendary groups is super difficult! Firstly to be a part of them your parents/ ancestors should have been part of that. No wonder groups take so much pride in showcasing their traditions at the carnival, as you should be born in the group, now this is cool!
If after reading about this insane legacy, if you still want to have a shot to get in, you must do the internship and face some stages of interviews! I bet you would get a couple of other jobs meanwhile and you would be still waiting for the Carnival entry !! so best of luck!
Gengenbach Carnival – colorful carnival costumes
Don’t want to be part of the fun? stand back!
Being crazy with the audience is a big motive of fastnachters ( i don’t care if it’s not a real word). They will pull you in the center, they would spin you or just probe their witchy nose inside your camera! I loved every bit of it, I felt like a was a part of a group without the nightmare of interviews. But I wasn’t wearing a mask, so free public embarrassment! But again if you don’t care, please join the league and stand in the front row, I promise you will have the best time of your life!
Candy, pretzels, and music
Carnival parade could be pretty much summed with these words. All witches, clowns, and monsters distribute ( sorry I meant throw) candy for little kids. Kids were masterminds standing in a group and literally robbing the candy person! haha! Some bread and pretzels were also being distributed along the way. Music was a real soul of a carnival. I couldn’t stop dancing along with delighting drumrolls and soothing flute bands. Music fan? then German carnival is the place!
Traditional Witches in carnival parade Germany
A never-ending celebration, Crazy and cool at the same time
Do you want to catch a glimpse of German carnival? Mid January – Mid February is the time! Different parts of Germany celebrate it at different times. Everywhere the carnival celebrations are usually week long, so better are your chances to catch one. I found the great information regarding carnivals on this website. If you fancy the Black forest carnival then Black forest official website is the place to get all information. I am sure you’ll have it later, for now, you can just visit my youtube and see for yourself, how the authentic German carnival/ Fasnacht looks like!
Thoughts in the comments, please! If you have already been to one of them, let me know your own experience, I would add that to my itinerary!
Give this article a like if you learned something new today. See you in the next one.
Shwe Chan 
Thanks to the great guide
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Thank you so much:) Glad you liked it.
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