Carnival in Heitersheim

We are now back in Freiburg / Black Forest / the Upper Rhine Valley where Carnival has been in full swing for the past four days.  While Berlin and Germany's Protestant areas do all kinds of serious things like working and governing, the southern and more Catholic areas have been abandoning themselves in crazy celebrations.   In Freiburg it's called Fasnacht, in the villages around here Fasnet, elsewhere Fasching, and in Cologne, the most famous of Carnival cities, it is called Karneval.  No matter the name, it means the same: four days of plain fun, costume balls with dancing, music, and on Rose Monday parades with colorful floats and lots of music.  Spectators, especially kids, get sweets and popcorn, and they and adults alike are strewn with confetti and faces painted with face paint by parade participants, whether we liked it or not... 

Yesterday my niece Lisa, 11, and I watched the Rose Monday parade in one of the near-by little towns:  Heitersheim, dating back to Roman times and proud home of 6,004 Heitersheimers, showed what even a little place will do to escape reality. 

 
 

 

 

             Many witches come with their families, husbands,
            wives, kids, babies --- all dressed up in witch costumes.

 

                               


                 
                       This witch wanted to "steal" Lisa's roller.   

 

 

Here is Lisa after the parade:  covered by confetti, face "painted", with a bag full of sweets, and cold.....but very happy.