A Little Thing Called Faschings

Before it gets too long after this event (although it's already been more than a month - on March 8th...!) I wanted to write a bit about 'Faschings' or 'Carnival' because it was a wonderful and unique experience!

The idea behind Faschings dates back hundreds of years. It was traditionally a Roman Catholic (of which there are many in Austria) festival but is now celebrated in various countries around the world. It is essentially a big celebration to start the beginning of Lent - 6 weeks of fasting before Easter. To get rid of all the rich food and drink, communities would get together and have huge feasts and celebrations. Nowadays it's lost a bit of its traditional meaning, but is essentially a HEAP of fun and a great celebration for everyone! My Faschings was a pretty unique experience. For all of March I didn't go to school (due to moving families, lack of space/interest in schools etc.), and so instead of celebrating at school, I did something a little different - I celebrated with Carl's school instead!

I set off in the morning with Janina and Freya (and Carl) to school. There the kids all dressed up and we helped paint their faces then they helped paint ours... Interesting!

Beautiful artistry on my face... Yes, I wandered around Vienna like this for a day!

Janina went home with Freya, leaving me with the class (and the teachers) - a simply overwhelming experience. We all caught the tram, train and subway to Stephansplatz (the very centre of Vienna) to have our own little celebration - drinking fizzy drink, shoting cans of silly string all over each other and throwing confetti. Then the wonderful tradition of KRAPFENS! Krapfens are like the Austrian/German equivalent of our 'jam dounuts', but about a thousand times better. They're eaten all year round, but are particularly popular for Faschings. I'm not quite sure why but possibly because they're basically deep-fried butter, eggs and sugar with jam inside. Perfect for fattening yourself up before Lent! The day was really cold, so it was nice to have something to munch on. One of the teachers went down to the subway and bought coffees for the "adults", and asked the bakery if she could bring down the kids to warm up a little, even though they wouldn't all have money. They said it was fine, but then while we were drinking our coffee, two staff members of the bakery came up with a free krapfen for each of us! It was such a sincere, lovely surprise!

CONFETTI FIGHT!

The Ice Bear takes a krapfen

Pippi Langstrumpf (Longstockings) rather satisfied with her krapfen!

 After going back to the school, getting picked up and having 'doner' for lunch, Janina, Carl, Henrich (Carl's friend), Theo, Freya and I then continued on to Bisamberg - another town just outside of Vienna - for their Faschings celebrations! Stalls lined the main street selling food and drinks (mostly alcohol) and soon enough, the parade started. Most people come dressed up so I didn't feel (very much) out of place with my interesting face paint - at least no one else cared!

Golden Ladies

Theo was in the Polizei for the day!

Kind of crazy old man!

Gorgeous little girl and some long legs!

The parade included floats for all kinds of things - most of which I totally didn't understand. Lollies are handed out (well, more thrown out), cups of schnapps and wine, fruit, krapfens, then there was the train throwing out coal. The Austrians can be immensely silly and are rather bold and ready to laugh at themselves. This is a great characteristic which I'm looking forward to seeing more of! All in all it was really just a lot of fun and the atmosphere was great to be around.

As I said - not quite sure what the point of each of the groups was - here the women were dressed as men and the men as women - Adults mind you!

Throwing (and blowing) streamers out into the crowd

Flapping feathers out into the crowd (for some reason!)

More up-to-date news soon!