Fastnacht

This year, I am making a concerted effort to ensure that we go to festivals and fairs in the villages we are visiting. One of the things I love about Europe is that villages and its traditions can be so different within 5 miles of one another.

We were fortunate enough to be in Germany at this time of year to celebrate the end of winter. A pagan celebration of chasing out the cold spirits and welcoming in the spring and winter spirits, this traditional festival has woven in many cultural events.

Fastnacht normally kicks off in November (11 mins past 11 ) with celebrations similar to halloween. It ends in a number of activities in March on Pancake Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.

Since it is obligatory to wear a costume to the karnival, we wore our onsies - the things we have for the Santiago Camino - so so glad we have them.. they were fantastic - warm and comfy - like wearing your bed around.. don't diss it till you try it.

Our little village hosts a wonderful floats and bands parade on the Sunday. Similar in ways to halloween, people get dressed up to scare away the evil spirits of winter and to celebrate being 'foolish.'  The floats in the parade are filled with people throwing sweets out into the crowd.  There are so many marching bands and organisations all trying to outdo the other with the bright costumes and music.

Heres the peeps eating bratwurst

We hd been warned to take very large backpacks to fill with the amounts of gifts we would be getting.  I didn't  quite realise how much the kids would get... wow.. this sure beats going from door to door to ask for lollies!

I have so many snaps of the karnival, but below are some of my favourite. There were groups of friends who themed their costumes; like this brave lot who came as he man ( only an 80s kid is going to remember that!)

Hessisches puppen museum

When the opportunity to visit a dolls museum with toys dating back to early Greek times came up, I was totally up for it, especially, since, its a fairly badly kept secret, that I would have always loved a dolls house.. and probably still do!!  Its something about those intricate details, the tiny saucers and perfect proportioned rooms with accessories... 

Although fairly small, the museum houses hundreds of displays, and enough to make any doll collector froth at the mouth. Below is a photo of just one dolls house in one room. To call it a dolls house is extremely unfair, as its a whole apartment block set in the mid 1800s. I have photos of the back and front here. The detail is incredible. 

You can probably see from the above photos that there are dozens of rooms and events happening. Below is just one - the butcher shop.  It boggles my ind thinking about dressing those dolls, placing every piece in and ensuring that they all stay where they are supposed to.

So many dolls and rooms to pick from, but I've chosen two which I found most interesting.

Something I hadn't realised about Cupie Dolls was that they were made initially here in Germany. They were called Angel Eye Dolls, but that must have been too much of a mouthful and it was cut to Kewpie. They have overly huge eyes which look to one side. This one below is dated from 1910, possibly one of the first to be produced. 

Below are some propaganda dolls. I'm sure the British did very similar things in war time to bring the spirit of the nation up and promote nationalism.  Young girls under the Nazi regime were brought up to seek a domestic life where they produced good citizens and strong fighters. These dolls formed pat of the teachings.

Morgan was pretty apprehensive on coming to this museum, but was more than happy when he saw the train sets and lego. 

I'm sure Lilly and I could have wasted another few hours looking at the costumes and clothes, but we were mindful of wearing a young boys patience thin.

Hessisches Doll Museum