On This Day – A Black Forest Festival

The festival of Fasnacht is a carnival in Alemannic folklore that takes place in the few days before Lent in Southern Germany, Switzerland and Alsace. The Alemanni were German tribes who lived in this part of Europe nearly two thousand years ago and this area remains characterised by a form of German with a distinct dialogue called Alemannic.

The celebration literally means ‘Fasting Eve’ as it originally referred to the day before the fasting season of Lent. The schools are all closed for this festival and all over the Black Forest there are six days of parties and making merry.

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Entrance Tickets – Venice Museums

Next door in the Piazzetta is the Doge’s Palace with Gothic arcades at ground level and an elaborate loggia on the floor above and a long queue of people waiting for their turn at the ticket office.

We joined this and enjoyed the sun as the queue moved slowly past and around the street vendors and the ladies selling bags of grain for feeding the birds.  The Palace is a museum now and we took the route through the rooms where great works of art were displayed and then crossed the Bridge of Sighs to reach the old Palace prisons on the other side of a canal.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Community

Germany and the Black Forest – The Fasnacht Festival

The festival of Fasnacht is a carnival in Alemannic folklore that takes place in the few days before Lent in Southern Germany, Switzerland and Alsace.  The Alemanni were German tribes who lived in this part of Europe nearly two thousand years ago and this area remains characterised by a form of German with a distinct dialogue called Alemannic.  The celebration literally means ‘Fasting Eve’ as it originally referred to the day before the fasting season of Lent.  The schools are all closed for this festival and all over the Black Forest there are six days of parties and making merry.

Read the full story…

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique

Carnival Mask, Venice…

Masks have always been a main feature of the Venetian carnival when traditionally people were allowed to wear them between the festival of Santo Stefano on December 26th and the start of the carnival season and midnight of Shrove Tuesday and because they were so important mask makers enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Unique

Black Forest, Germany – The Fasnacht

The festival of Fasnacht is a carnival in Alemannic folklore that takes place in the few days before Lent in Southern Germany, Switzerland and Alsace.  The Alemanni were German tribes who lived in this part of Europe nearly two thousand years ago and this area remains characterised by a form of German with a distinct dialogue called Alemannic.  The celebration literally means ‘Fasting Eve’ as it originally referred to the day before the fasting season of Lent.  The schools are all closed for this festival and all over the Black Forest there are six days of parties and making merry.

Read the full story…

Venice, Carnival Masks and the Cathedral

“What a funny old city this Queen of the Adriatic is! Narrow streets, vast, gloomy marble palaces, black with the corroding damps of centuries, and all partly submerged; no dry land visible anywhere, and no sidewalks worth mentioning…”                                                                                                                              Mark Twain

There was a strange calmness about the back streets which was in complete contrast to the busy main thoroughfares and here and there we came across traditional artisans shops selling glass or paper and every now and then a costumier and carnival mask maker.

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Venice, Piazza San Marco

“Though there are some disagreeable things in Venice there is nothing so disagreeable as the visitors.”
Henry James

Napoleon may or may not have called the Piazza San Marco “the finest drawing room in Europe” but whether he did or he didn’t it doesn’t really matter because it is indeed one of the finest squares in all of Europe.

San Marco or is the principal public square of Venice where it is generally known just as ‘the Piazza’.  All other urban spaces in the city (except the Piazzetta) are called ‘campi’ (fields).  The Piazzetta (the ‘little Piazza’) is an extension of the Piazza towards the lagoon in its south east corner and the two spaces together form the social, religious and political centre of the city.

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Germany, The Fasnacht Festival

The fasnacht carnival was in the town of Hausach and it took about forty minutes to drive there passing through Waldkirch again where there were preparations in place for a carnival there later that evening which caused a bit of congestion but nothing too serious and we arrived on schedule in Hausach and finding the place curiously quiet we parked the car in a town centre car park.

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