Today in Pennsylvania "Dutch" country, it's Fasnacht Day. Other places have much more festive pre-Lenten celebrations, places like South America, Italy, Spain and elsewhere where it's been Carnival since last week; or New Orleans, where Mardi Gras' outrageous costumes, alcohol and "Show Us Your Tits" T-shirts abound. But in the dour, sour regions of the North, we have no such sense of fun. Heck, where I come from (Cincinnati), we don't even have Fasnacht Day. Or Faschnacht Day.

Fasnachts are dreary little plain doughnuts, rather heavy, probably deep fried in lard rather than oil, with a sprinkling of sugar. They're OK, but they're not as exciting as, say, an eclair. The first year I lived in this part of the country, I came into work and said, "What's the occasion?" when I saw the plate of doughnuts. It's Faschnacht Day," they said, and when I looked puzzled they teased me for never having heard of it. I'd heard of Shrove Tuesday, of course, which is the real name of the occasion.

I just had a look around the web and found that it's called Pancake Day in Britain. What other names do you know of for this blip of self-indulgence before Lent?

Wordmatic

In the Rhineland, the day after Rosenmontag (lit., 'rose Monday', in English Collop, Rose, or Merry, Monday) is called Karnevalsdienstag (lit., 'Carnival Tuesday') or Veilchendienstag (lit., 'violet Monday'), while in the rest of Germany it's Faschingsdienstag. Shrove Tuesday is better known in the States by its French name (via the New Orleans Carnival) Mardi Gras (lit., 'fat Tuesday').

Karneval in Cologne (and environs) is a marvelous thing to behold: I've been to about four or five. Although Karneval technically starts on 11 Novewmber (at 11:11 AM), it doesn't really get rolling until the Thursday before Aschmittwoch (lit., 'Ash Wednesday'). That Thursday is called Weiberfestnacht (lit., 'women's feast eve'). In cities throughout the area, women take over city hall, and shorten (with huge pinking shears) the ties of any men they come across during the process. Everybody's in costume, and there's lots of parades, with candies being thrown from the floats, and of course much drinking of the local ale (Kölsch (or Alt in Dusseldorf) is top-fermented beer different from pilsners or lagers drunk in the rest of Germany). On Tuesday night at midnight, people leave the pubs they've been celebrating in, and take a straw man (d'r Nubbel) outside to be burnt (a kind of scapegoat).

Cool. I especially like the part about the pinking shears, since there are a good number of people whose neckties I'd love to chop if only they couldn't tell who I was!

Now I remember hearing about Faschingsfest in German class many years ago.

Thanks for the Shrove Tuesday Tutorial!

WM

Yes, male civil servants and office workers tned to wear old ties on that Thursday. I just remembered there's another tradition of haning out one's empty wallet on a clothes line (in front of city hall, IIRC) and shedding mock tears over the expenditure of so much money. I saw the tie-clipping and the empty wallets the first time I went to Karneval in Beuel, which is one of the older cities which makes up Bonn.

I believe the University of Wisconsin still celebrates Fasching in the Rathskeller.

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I especially like the part about the pinking shears, since there are a good number of people whose neckties I'd love to chop if only they couldn't tell who I was!

I haven't thought about pinking shears in years! The cutting of neckties reminds me of Pinnacle Peak in Phoenix.

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shorten (with huge pinking shears) the ties of any men they come across during the process.

I don't think you have to be a Freudian to guess at the underlying meaning of that action.

So Arnie, if you read neckties in a Freudian way, what is your read on men who wear bow ties?



wordmatic

Well ... I've often wondered about such men. Those wearing evening dress excepted, of course, as they've no choice.

Freudian

To give them their due, it doesn't the least bit latent.