HELLAU

We attended our first Fasching parade last Sunday here in Oberursel. We decided to start out small this year and maybe next year attend a bigger, more crowded festival. We discovered that the Oberursel parade was quite a big deal! Fasching is the last big party before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Yes, it is the Southern German equivalent of Mardi Gras or Carnival. I learned recently that all of these words basically mean fasting, or meatless, or going without fat/butter/sugar. I've included a link below that will give a better description of Fasching than I can but I CAN say it was fun!

http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa020501a.htm

No parade is complete without men in funny hats:

My school celebrated Fasching with costumes and a small school-wide party on the Friday before Ski Break (yes, we get a week off in February for skiing). I brought out the Geisha costume and it was a big hit with the first grade students - especially the Korean kids. I haven't worn it since that fateful Halloween when Oregon Department of Ed auditors met with district personnel for our exit meeting (I was the only one wearing a costume - white face and all). All students and teachers wore costumes this time so I didn't feel the least bit out of place!

Some of Murilo's Lufthansa counterparts?? They seem a little desperate!

We opted not to wear costumes to last Sunday's parade but wished we had after we arrived. Many people were in the spirit of things with wigs or full costumes. The funniest part of the parade: the people in the floats were throwing gobs of candy in between puffs on their cigarettes and/or swigs of alcoholic drinks stowed inside the floats. Some even handed out small bottles of spirits instead of throwing candy!! It was hilarious! I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the way people acted - they actually do know how to have fun.

Yes, mayors everywhere have their adversaries and their supporters. The picture above, obviously the former, shows how some people think the mayor of Oberursel feels about taxpayers. The picture below is garnering support for the mayor's pet project of upgrading/reenovating the Oberursel main train station (or at least the toilets within the station). I found out it is typical here to include floats with political statements. However, the finger is actually against the law and the flippee can be fined up to 1000 Euros and spend some time in jail (in extreme cases). I guess that does not include public displays during festivals or parades - probably some law about that too.