During a recent trip to the family in Singen, our fun Stuttgart cousin and her sidekick, Dieter, took us to Fasnacht in Überlingen, Germany. It is the Saturday night before Mardi Gras. The Guilds of Überlingen dress up in their traditional, but somewhat strange, costumes and parade through the streets like mischievous sprites looking for trouble!
The whips are just that so needed touch of danger and noise that every Mardi Gras needs! Just inches from our unprotected flesh, the Guild members would start slowly spinning the whip to warn everyone to get out of their range. Then the fun begins!! The crack sounds like gun fire and the whip flies in two opposing directions making me cringe as far as possible from the trajectory. Yikes! I kept hoping they had not consumed too many of the humongous beer steins typical for German males!
Everyone in the crowd is dressed up in costume...we definitely felt out of it in our regular street clothes. Now I know where all of those funky weird costumes go that are sold in the stores at this time of year!
What a wild and fun night!! Great to know that after almost ten years in Europe, we can still be surprised!
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