Once a year, generally at the time of Ash Wednesday and Shrove Tuesday, in certain countries in Europe night becomes day and people dress up in costumes and go on parades in the town. It is known as Carnival in english, Fasching in German and Fassnacht in our part of Switzerland.

There are groups that begin to plan for the next Fassnacht in Autumn, although the actual months of Fassnacht are February-March. If you are a Fassnacht person, you dress your kids up, you dress up and spend most evenings at the local carnival ball coming home in the early hours of the morning. Needless to say many workers take a holiday at that time. Those that take the risk of working usually fall asleep at their desk.

Me – forget it. I did not grow up with it and have absolutely no intention of taking part. Mr. Swiss used to go in his younger days, but that is now a thing of the past. I was forced to accompany the kids as they wanted to see the parade, but was glad to return home after standing in the freezing cold. It might even have snowed.

I took this photo in 2007 which was the last time I was present at the carnival, and then only attended the procession for a few photos.

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