September 2005-August 2006 I spent the year studying abroad in Tübingen, Germany. On this page, I will share one cultural moment every now and then that I experienced while there.

Cultural moment #1: The "Fasching" Parade

Fasching or Karneval (more commonly known as Mardi Gras in the United States) is a popular time of year in southern Germany and in many other parts of Europe. For about one month before Lent the normally tight-laced German people let down their hair and go crazy. Besides parties and dressing up, parades are an essential tradition of Fasching. Fasching parades are not your everyday make-a-float-and-walk-down-the-street affair. Germans join prestigious clubs in order to participate in the parade. They put together complicated costumes, which can be frightful, silly, and clever. Often they include carved wooden masks. Witches, monsters, and animals (especially wolves, bears, geese, etc.) on the day of the parade hand out candy, throw confetti, play in a band, or most often terrorize the parade goers. They abduct girls and throw them in a "spinning machine", set off stinkbombs, chasing people, stealing shoes, making insults and everything else possible. It is the strangest and funniest thing to see your friend get mauled by a pine tree and then get attacked by a wolf yourself!