Fasching (Mardi Gras)

These last few days have been dedicated almost entirely to Fasching, which is now - finally - over. Between last Thursday and Tuesday were the most important days of Fasching and most kids came to school dressed up most days. Here's Alex on Monday. Dana will recognize the Fireman shirt which is much beloved by Alex. Here he is standing in front of the door to his classroom. He's in the dragon group as you can see by the dragon on the door.

The school shared a CD of pictures with us that included shots from the big party last Thursday. Here are a few selections. You can see Batman with his friend, a knight.

Here is Alex's whole group in their costumes in their classroom.

Here's Alex with a bunch of other kids, including another Batman! Alex is the one in the center.

And, finally, here they are playing a dancing game in the little gym at the school.

Well, after most of the parties and celebrations happen inside, on Monday and Tuesday this week, Fasching moved into the streets. Many cities host parades, especially in Western Germany and Heidelberg's parade was set for Tuesday at 2 pm. The school closed right at 2pm, so everyone had the chance to go to the parade. We had made a date with Alex's new friend Victoria and her mom and we headed into the city together. Thousands of people were already lined up along the parade route when we got there, but we still got a good spot to watch - and collect candy! It was bitterly cold and though Alex was wearing his costume, it was essentially invisible under his 3 or 4 layers to keep him somewhat warm. I kept warm with a bright pink wig Alex had talked me into buying a few days earlier. Needless to say, wearing a pink wig inevitably leads to making silly faces.

We had to wait for a while for the parade to get to our spot and here's Alex in eager anticipation. His only other parade experience is the Greencastle Fair parade and this would be quite different. Here we are still waiting.

But finally the first floats arrived!

Some of the floats had political messages - as is typical for Fasching in Germany. Here's one commenting on the withdrawal of American troops from Germany.

There were also bands, dancing troupes, and groups of folks dressed as animals etc. Here is a group of people dressed as traditional German witches. We had to reassure the kids that these were just costumes, because the witches looked pretty large and terrifying. The fact that they were handing out candy, however, made them less scary to the kids.

Even with all our layers, it did get awfully cold standing outside in the below-freezing temperatures. Thankfully Victoria's mom had brought a thermos of hot, sweet herbal fruit tea (a typical German kids drink) and the kids were able to warm up at least a little bit. 

As if the day hadn't been exciting enough, when we got back home, there was a package waiting for us from the fabulous Rachel Musser who had sent all sorts of Batman stuff to Alex. Thanks, Rachel. You are wonderful!

What a day!