Fasnacht is the Swiss Carnival.....
it is not held the same week as in Catholic countries but rather a week later, after Ash Wednesday. This supposedly is because Basel city was predominantly Protestant...
Who knows why........ but it has now been going on for around 700 years!
We used to live in Basel and so have attended a few Fasnachts in the past and have even gone to Morgenstraich at 4am!
This time we were in Zurich and just went over for the day.......
The different cliques choose different themes each year but are usually based somewhat on social and political issues/developments, both local and international, in the preceding year. Also on people in the news........
So Steve Jobs was there.....
There seemed to be a few main themes..........
Nuclear concerns because of Fukushima...
Mühleberg is a nuclear power plant which has been told to close by 2013 but is resisting!
and alternative energy replacement.. here wind energy..
Another popular topic was money! The Swiss franc became very strong this past year and definitely hurt exports. The Central bank stepped in mid-year and decided the Swiss franc should be around 1.20 to the euro.....
Then there were references to Greece and the unsinkable(??) euro
There were lots of floats with Waggis, whose main role was to throw confetti and clementines into the crowds......
And of course there were the marching bands.....
One of the placards above reads' I have 1000 Facebook (FB) friends'!
Even the smurfs were there..
Some Waggis threw mimosa into the crowd, definitely more welcome than the confetti!
And some needed to rest....... cycling around since perhaps 4a.m.!!
There seemed to be a worry that texting might be taking away from the written language.....
And these very young participants seem very unfazed by the crowds......
it is not held the same week as in Catholic countries but rather a week later, after Ash Wednesday. This supposedly is because Basel city was predominantly Protestant...
Who knows why........ but it has now been going on for around 700 years!
We used to live in Basel and so have attended a few Fasnachts in the past and have even gone to Morgenstraich at 4am!
This time we were in Zurich and just went over for the day.......
The different cliques choose different themes each year but are usually based somewhat on social and political issues/developments, both local and international, in the preceding year. Also on people in the news........
So Steve Jobs was there.....
There seemed to be a few main themes..........
Nuclear concerns because of Fukushima...
Mühleberg is a nuclear power plant which has been told to close by 2013 but is resisting!
and alternative energy replacement.. here wind energy..
Anti-smoking?????
There were lots of floats with Waggis, whose main role was to throw confetti and clementines into the crowds......
and lots of piccolo players..
And some needed to rest....... cycling around since perhaps 4a.m.!!
And these very young participants seem very unfazed by the crowds......
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