{"id":1005,"date":"2012-02-22T22:27:37","date_gmt":"2012-02-22T22:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=1005"},"modified":"2016-05-13T20:45:28","modified_gmt":"2016-05-13T20:45:28","slug":"fasching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/fasching\/","title":{"rendered":"Fasching"},"content":{"rendered":"

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These past few days across Europe (and many other parts of the world), it has been Carnival, Munich included (it’s called Fasching here).\u00a0 For weeks the big department stores have dedicated huge sections of floor space to rows and rows of fancy dress gear, some of it more than slightly odd.\u00a0\u00a0 You name it, and you will probably find a costume version of\u00a0 it!\u00a0\u00a0 My lovely brother-in-law tried on a couple of the outfits above whilst shopping with my sister and I, but he wouldn’t try on a mustard pot complete with strangely placed string of sausages, much to our disappointment (for future blackmailing requirements)…<\/p>\n

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Yesterday was Faschingsdienstag, probably the biggest day of the season, culminating in a huge party in most towns – a real day of excess before the start of lent.\u00a0\u00a0 Depending on what you give up for lent of course (if anything!), you could be completely missing out, as Strong beer season starts as soon as Carnival finishes.\u00a0 This may be a bad thing, or perhaps not!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Whilst for some sad reason we don’t celebrate this time of year in the same way in the UK, we do like to stuff our faces with pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, which is kind of a compromise I suppose.\u00a0\u00a0 We still continue this tradition in our house, even though Pancake Day is not the same without Tate & Lyle Golden Syrup!<\/p>\n

Special foods are an important part of Carnival wherever you celebrate it, and funnily enough a lot of it tends to be sweet and sickly.\u00a0 When we lived in Denmark \u2013 as well as the dressing up (and the rather odd traditions of hitting\u00a0 your parents with sticks and whacking cats in barrels), the most spectacular part of Carnival was the Fastlavn Boller (which can mean something very rude if you pronounce it incorrectly)!\u00a0 Beautiful clouds of choux pastry filled with flavoured cream and topped with icing \u2013 worth a seasonal trip to Copenhagen for, believe me!<\/p>\n

In this part of the world thankfully there are also special Carnival cakes, but this time in Doughnut form!\u00a0\u00a0 Not just your average doughnut either; if you can think of a flavour, it will be there somewhere, and the bakers often get carried away, sticking bizarre objects such as jam-filled syringes or lollipops on top\u2026\u00a0 I highly recommend the Advocaat, or the mocha, or the raspberry, or the chocolate cream, or the… you get the picture!<\/p>\n

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I had hoped to go into town yesterday to see the annual Fasching Market Women’s Dance at the Viktualientmarkt<\/a>, but was warned that it gets completely hectic and raucous which did sound quite fun, but perhaps not the wisest idea when accompanied by two Small People.<\/p>\n

In any event the 4 Year old has succumbed to some sort of half-term germs, so we ventured to a smaller town slightly closer to home instead.By 2pm the streets were filled with revellers, all walking around in that slightly self-conscious “we’re in fancy dress but we’re not drunk yet” stage…\u00a0 Needless to say I imagine it got a lot more lively as the day wore on judging by the amount of beer stalls around!\u00a0 Apparently the party really gets going when the floats are welcomed back from Munich.<\/p>\n

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Carnival Float complete with hag with fireworks on her back…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I could have stayed to people watch all day (as could The Seven Year old who was busy getting into the Carnival spirit and had been dancing the entire time), but Small Boy was getting cold and unhappy, so we gave up and came home.\u00a0 But we got the picture, and next year we will be back, possibly in fancy dress!<\/p>\n

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Not just people that get into the Carnival Spirit!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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