Carnival - Basel Style

The partying began in Basel last Monday morning at 4:00 a.m. when all the lights downtown were turned off and the celebrations began.  There were bands and fireworks and lots of hoopla!  DJ heard the noise from here.  I slept through it because I'd been up late----blogging.  As I start this post (Thursday, the 17th), Lent has begun, and I would imagine things are a lot quieter in the city center.  I wouldn't know.  We went over on Monday evening, and I haven't been back.  I don't know if I want to go back again next year, either.

As fun as it was to experience something new in Riquewihr a few weeks ago, I still felt a darkness in some ways that almost forced me to leave at one point.  I like to have a good time.  I do, I really do.  I'm glad that I got to see what carnival was all about, but there's just a lot of what goes on that bothers me.

• Some of the masks and costumes were a little on the dark side.  They weren't something that I think my young grandchildren would enjoy---I mean they were kinda scarey.  I know, grotesque---that's what they were.
• Some of the behavior of the people was inappropriate.
• There was a lady on the street (not a parade participant) walking around with a costume of sorts---a one piece, curved-in-the-right-places, replica of a nude woman's torso that fit over her own.  Anatomically correct, it was totally trashy.
• As I thought of all the time and money that had gone in to such things, it made me sad.  That energy and money could have been spent so many other places and done such good. 
• I'm all about traditions, but maybe, just maybe, this whole thing could be cleaned up a bit.

So fast forward to this past week and Basel's celebration.  Much bigger.  We went over in the late afternoon/early evening.  We don't have any clue how long the parade itself had been going on, but there were bands and floats coming across one of the main bridges on the Rhine and then going up and down and around multiple streets near the Market Square at the same time.  I don't know how they kept track of where everyone was supposed to be.  We didn't see it all; nor, did we try.  I definitely didn't take pictures of everything.

The crowds were horrendous, and it was hard to take good pictures.  Sorry in advance.  We also took our smaller camera, and I don't think the zoom works quite as well as the other.  But you'd have to see some of this stuff to believe it.

THERE WERE BANDS AGAIN (this time more fife and drum corps than brass, but a few brass):

This one marched down, the road, and got on the ferry to go back across the Rhine.



This band wore newspaper costumes?????  They were waiting for the ferry.



These people were cute compared to a lot of what we saw!



Yes, this band was dressed as pregnant nuns.  I thought that was totally disrespectful.

Led by none other than the monks. 



Their version of 101 Dalmations---maybe??

This group resemebled the mafia??  the CIA??  Who knows?

????????


THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE IN COSTUMES, SOME WERE REALLY WEIRD AND OUTLANDISH:



These guys disgusted me!

This casket followed the last group---really morbid.  Not so kid-friendly!



THE HORSES WERE THE BEST PART:

THE FLOATS WERE BIG, NOT VERY ATTRACTIVE, AND FOR THE MOST PART WERE JUST A PLACE TO HOLD PEOPLE WHO WOULD GIVE AWAY COUPONS, CANDY, FLOWERS, AND SHOOT CONFETTI:

This Noah's Ark was my favorite, and the animals that follwed were awesome.  Only wish I could have gotten through the crowds to get better pictures.

THE CONFETTI coming from the floats was crazy (see pictures below).  It was everywhere.  People would walk by with it all over in their hair and appear not to notice.  It was still visible four days later, as I walked to town to get my hair cut!  One nice thing they did was to hand out roses and these beautiful yellow flowers (not sure what they were).  They also passed out oranges and the candy and coupons I mentioned before:



These are the yellow flowers I was talking about.

The confetti was so thick in places.  I begged  DJ to kick it over the tops of my shoes and bury my feet so we could take a picture---it was that deep.  He wouldn't do it!  Now he regrets it, because it would have shown just how much was there!



Evidence of the oranges!


Besides the confetti, there was garbage like nobody's business.  I wouldn't want to be on the city's street crews!  Take a look:

A common sight in the window sills.



By the time I took this picture, the partying had been going on for 13-14 hours.  Can you guess what was people's favorite pastime?





I'm really not a neat-freak, but the amount of garbage and how it was just strewn all over appalled me.


Not only was there garbage laying around, but once people were through participating in the parades, we saw things like this multiple places.  Guess they're pretty trusting.

The best thing about the night was that there were food vendors in every little nook and cranny and on market square.  The one thing we did indulge in was bratwurst for dinner! 

As it started to get dark, we started our walk home.  Who knows how late into the night the partying went on?  We heard it lasted through Tuesday and part of Wednesday until people went to churches for Ash Wednesday services.  Maybe I'm just getting old, or I'm a stick in the mud, but I'm just not sure I understand the need for, nor see the good in this whole thing. 

From a philosphical point of view, Lent is supposed to be a "turning"---I guess kind of a turning from the natural man and all he craves to things of a more spiritual nature, a time to show discipline over things physical.  I think that's all well and good, though I think we should be working on that all year.  The thing that really bothers me is why people feel the need to drop to a "low" point right before Lent, during carnival---the loud ruckus, the drunkeness, the bizarre and sometimes lewd costumes, the focus on things Satanic.  Why?  I'd love it, if someone understands this and could explain this to me.

Anyway, that's carnival in Basel from my lowly perspective.  Kind of glad it only comes once a year!