a thousand colours in Basel, Switzerland

Confetti flying through the air, piccolo and drum bands around every street corner, yummy sausauge stands, and hilarious costumes filled the city of Basel, Switzerland for the 3 day celebration of "Fasnacht" this week. Paul and I were very fortunate to be able to join in the festivities of this marvelous and lively event.

It originated with the idea to send winter on its' way and to welcome the spring season (what a fabulous basis for a celebration!). Today, the city of Basel has hundreds of different "cliques" that prepare all year for Fasnacht. Each clique has a unique "waggi" costume, which is essentially a very bright outfit with an exaggerated headpiece and very funny features. These cliques often have very talented musical bands which perform throughout the entire festival dressed in costume.

Essentially, the city stays awake for the entire 3 days...people follow the marching bands and cliques throughout the streets and join in their impromptu parades. Some of these musicians were extremely talented; I never knew that it could be so much fun to rock out to a marching band on the side of the street! The festival is also an opportunity for the locals to mock political events and scandals of the year through incredible art forms such as life size lanterns and floats in parades.

One of our favourite aspects was to watch the children that ran through the streets. Most of them carried a giant bag of coloured confetti, as well as handfuls of candy. The objective was to surprise someone by dumping as much confetti over them as possible, and in turn for the dousing, hand them a treat. At the beginning and end of the festival, all the cliques participate in a giant parade. Each clique has a float, and the waggis toss oranges, carrots, and other random foods into the audience.

Thank you so much to Raphael and Andrea for showing us around, and showing us the insider point of view. You were incredible hosts, and it was wonderful to see our swiss friend again! Fastnacht is definitely a crazy experience, with so many unique elements and events it's difficult to describe. It sure was an amazing atmosphere, with an incredible amount of joy. We shared a lot of laughs, and we're still picking confetti out of our clothes!