Carneval Parade 2004 (18-01-04)

Our carnival experience did not begin in Gomaringen but at ISP with a lecture from Elisabeth on the history of carnival. It was not as bad as it sounds, in fact it was very interesting, and we got a suprise visit from a group named NZ Kusterdingen, they were going to take part in the carnival. In fact when they came into the room in which we were having our lecture they were dressed in their costumes; we had a great time pretending that we were afraid of them, whilst at the same time frantically trying to get a hold of the sweets they were throwing at us. They also gave us small alcoholic beverages, most of which were gulped down very quickly.

On the day of the carnival,we had our faces painted and we took a bus to Gomaringen. Elisabeth got our tickets and each of us received rather oversized yellow cardboard ties which contained the names of all the groups which were to take part in the carnival. Elisabeth warned us not to take hats ( because they might get grabbed and then get lost in all the excitement), that here and there a girl or two might get stolen, and most impotantly Elisabeth told us to stay "togesher" as we could loose our way.

I do not think any of us realised what we had gotted ourselves into; an absolutely amazing experience, we danced the Polka that Elisabeth had taught us, whenever any of the carnival groups was playing music we could dance to. Inge-Lisa and Marli actually did get stolen and Unathi got dragged away by a little girl who was shorter, smaller and at least half Unathi's age. Initially the little girl had targeted me but, since I speak more german than Unathi I told the girl to take Unathi instead.

Overall the experience was fantastic, well beyond our expectations, it was so much fun seeing the people parading in their costumes, at taking part in all the excitement. Seeing a long-standing german tradition first-hand. Vielen Dank Elisabeth for taking us to the parade, I know that our group really enjoyed it.

Report by Teboho Aphane (University of the Witwatersrand)

Photos by Oliver Häußler / info@textboarder.de