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Thursday 12 February 2015

Carnival in Switzerland, Solothurn

Today was “shmutzige Donnschtig” (dirty Thursday) and the first day of our carnival season in Solothurn (Fassnacht) which ends next week on Wednesday. Solothurn is the town just down the road. It begins at 6.00 in the morning, so the people in our village have to depart at 5.00 in the morning to arrive in Solothurn in time. It is a very special sort of thing. Those taking part this morning have to wear a long white nightdress with a red necktie and a white nightcap preferably with a tassle. They carry anything with them that makes noise and they really make noise. This morning there were 6,000 people on the procession through the town. It is all very organised with the chief Chesslete man leading the procession and everyone following.


After the procession everyone visits the local restaurants, if there is still room, and eat flour soup and warm cheese cakes. It is all in the name of tradition. Me, as english person, had never known carnival. I am not a friend of it, too much noise and too much excitement, but those that grow up with it have it in their system. Anyhow here is a YouTube film of this morning’s procession with all the trimmings. You will not understand very much as it is all in Swiss German, but I am sure the pictures will be something completely different.



4 comments:

  1. Love this...thanks so much for posting...I had never heard of this before. How my grandchildren would love taking part in something like this.

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    1. Carnival is custom in Switzerland. Every year and the carnival towns have their own way of celebrating. This is just an example of our home town Solothurn. Being originlly english, I had to learn how it works.

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  2. The carnival looks like a lot of fun, but does it HAVE to start so early?? The only loud noise at 6am I should be hearing is my own snoring!! LOL.

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    1. The idea is starting early. In Basel, the birth of Swiss Carnival, the people don't even bother to go to bed. They have pipes and drums and self-made lanterns, the whole town turns night into day for a full week. I was there once, did not enjoy it, and was glad to get out. Everyone to their own thing.

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