From Altdorf to Yverdon-les-bains passing through Bellinzona we have compiled a list of carnivals around Switzerland.
Location: Switzerland
Link out: http://genevalunch.com/geneva-living/2011/02/17…
Start date: 25 Feb 2011
End date: 13 Apr 2011
Federer and UBS’s Ospel were probably not playing the same tune
Basel: peaceful on Sunday, before Fasnacht begins
Basel's Fasnacht: leave your car at home!
Update 25 February 09:30 (video clip) Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The people of Basel will have sore feet by the early hours of Thursday 25 February, as Fasnacht moves into its final drumbeats after three days of incessant marching and parade-watching.
If you’ve read Swiss newspapers you could be forgiven for thinking that the guests of honour were Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi and former Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz. They were indeed present, but only in effigy, dozens and dozens of versions of each of them. Uncle Sam, who looked like an IRS (US tax authority) employee saying “I want YOU!” also showed up several times during the parades and in city bars.
More intriguing, however, were the rumours flying thick that one of the pipers behind a mask was Marcel Ospel, former boss of banking giant UBS and a citizen of Basel. “He never gave back his bonus!” the word went round. But should the piper pay the piper? Ospel apparently thought not.
Getting Qadaffi and Merz in place for the parade, Basel Fasnacht
Basel's streets fill with piccolo players practising on Sunday, before Fasncht begins
If he was behind a mask he was one of thousands, and there was no danger of it being pulled off in this festival with no written rules, but an unspoken list of do’s and don’ts. Masks stay on.
Another giant question mark hanging over the crowd was the possible presence Roger Federer. The tennis star had said that he would not be participating in the Dubai tournament because of a lung infection, that he would be taking a little time off. Where better to do that than in hometown Basel during its famous Fasnacht, the city whispered loudly.
For loud it is in Basel during Fasnacht, surely one of Europe’s most spectacular shows and all the more endearing to visitors because it is not put on for tourists.
The parade route is 7km long, but the city’s population joins in so enthusiastically that there are 14km of people. “It poses a few organizational problems,” says Fasnacht Comite President Felix Rudolf von Rohr, a former politician, ruefully.
The way money really works in Basel
Photo: a band practises in a side street before the Monday afternoon parade
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Fasnacht, Switzerland’s largest carnival celebration, started at 04:00 Monday 21 February. The usual loud “Ooooo” of the crowd as the city’s lights went out was promptly followed by the daunting sound of pipers and drummers from 500 groups, and the eery light of the traditional “lanterns” carried on marchers’ heads. GenevaLunch brings you a feature story later Tuesday on this satirical event that involves 10,000 people every year for three days, marching in the streets and partying but most of all using it as a means to make fun of themselves and the world.
Basel Carnival collector's postage stamps
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss postal service will start selling its newest commemorative stamps, for the famed Basel Carnival (Fasnacht), 5 January to collectors and 12 January in post offices. The one-franc (regular letter price) stamps may be used starting 12 January.
The three stamps commemorate the centennary of the organizing committee that is at the heart of the three-day pre-Lenten festival, but La Poste points out that Basel’s Carnival itself dates back to the 14th century. The stamps show typical costumes and the heart of the party, the city’s Spalentor, town hall and the cathedral. Basel artist Andreas Daniel Vetsch created them.
The festival in 2010 takes place from 22-24 February.
Links to other sites: Basel Carnival (Ger), Basel tourism office, Swiss post office philately page (Ed. note: the new stamps are not yet listed on the English pages)
