It must be interesting to be in Berlin this week! First there is “Fasching/Fastnacht (Carnival) in Berlin today and tomorrow. Fasching is a big deal in Germany, when I lived there for the first half of my teens it was absolutely not to be avoided. I don’t know what’s happening in Berlin for Fastnacht but I wonder whether Richard will catch a glimpse of it as he is filming there now anyhow. More importantly: will he join in the dressing-up fun?
He could dress up as Thorin…
or as a dragon of sorts…
… or even a TDHCMO (tall-dark-handsome-cotton-mill-owner)!
My cat can join in the fun as well, he regularly channels his inner-Yoda (finally captured on camera this weekend):
Then, after all the Fastnacht hullabulloo has ended, there is a day of introspection on Ash Wednesday before on Thursday the Berlin film festival starts with a special focus on the European migrant crisis! Meryl Streep will be in the festival jury, which is an extra bonus.
Yep, I wouldn’t mind being in Berlin this week!
No fun to be had on Fastnacht (I hear some parades may be canceled due to strong winds) or maybe not interested in celebrating? Maybe I can tempt you with another A Place To Call Home video I made over the weekend (I seem to be in obsession land and on a roll). Should you be in a carnival mood, I suggest you watch it dressed up in 1950s fashion… 😉 (Oh, and beware, video contains spoilers for the show).
The Book of Esther 
Berlin is a delightful place, but it hasn’t been Catholic since the 1530s. The best Fasching is to be had along the Rhein — Mainz, Cologne, Düsseldorf. Although it looks like some of the parades have been canceled.:(
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Yep, the Prussians are thoroughly Lutheran. Mind you, Berlin had a Carnival parade nonetheless… It already took place weekend before last. http://www.berlin.de/kultur-und-tickets/fotos/stadtleben/4283759-1852685.gallery.html?page=1 (Having a hard time imagining RA discreetly mixing with the jovial public and diving for “Kamelle”, though)
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Hadn’t thought of that… I remember when I lived in Germany the parade in Mainz was televised live and school went out early.
It’s the same here in the Netherlands – here where I live nothing, go a little south and carnival is celebrated all over as well!
Still, I kinda like the little fantasy of RA dressing up and joining some sort of Fastnacht festivities somewhere. 😉 Maybe he had the weekend off and went to Mainz…
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Let’s hope he did — it’s one of the places I had the most fun ever in Germany! Alao (or whatever)!
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As far as I know carnival is celebrated more in the western parts of Germany, and not so much in Berlin. Very famous is Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz but personally I prefer the tradition of Alemannische Fasnet here in the south-west. It’s more primal and sinister with parades of witches, ghosts and devils in heavy costumes and wooden masks …some with horns not unlike the red dragon’s 🙂
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Ooh, nice! He’d fit in perfectly there! 🙂
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Uinonah is right! There is a huge difference between the Fastnacht in the South-West of Germany and the Karneval in Rheinland 🙂 I prefer the alemannische Fasnet, Great Costumes and masks!!!
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I lived for three years in Berlin and during this time I habe never seen ‘Karneval’. I think the immigrants of the Rheinland exported the Karneval to Berlin 🙂
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I lived in carnival country in Germany and it was so present, I just assumed there were enough catholics present to make it alive everywhere. 🙂
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No, it has nothing to do with the church. Karneval is a tradition in the Rheinland and in South Germany. Feiern um die Geister des Winters auszutreiben! In Berlin gibt es Karneval erst seitdem der Bundestag dort ist, sprich seitdem viele Rheinländer dort hingezogen sind 🙂
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It does have something to do with the Church — Lutheran (and later Calvinist) church authorities got governments to stamp Carneval out in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Protestant lands, along with their general and gradual crackdown on particular Catholic pieties related to Lent (Carne vale = literally, in Latin, goodbye to meat: the week of parties and parades / demonstrations / traditions that preceded the Lenten fast). Of course, Carneval has roots in predecessor traditions, and the “world turned upside down” mode of political protest that was common in medieval societies that preserved area traditions that preceded Christianity, too.
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🙂
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Thanks for the explanation.
And I think virtually all Christian festivals have roots in predecessor traditions.
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Es ist aber ursprünglich eine katholische Tradition, Auftakt zu 40 Tage “Lent” bevor Ostern..Hier in den Niederlanden auch – der Norden war Protestant, da gibt’s bis heute kein Karneval, der Süden war mehr katholisch, und da wird bis heute noch gefeiert!
Die Rheinländer, die das mitbringen nach Berlin – die sind das so gewohnt, ob sie noch katholisch sind oder nicht, die möchten das natürlich überall feieren. 🙂
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I wouldn’t mind being in Berlin all the time as my current crush Sam Riley lives there 😀 Berlinale is going on now right, I’m hoping to see new pics of him, ahah. Oooh, love RA in that top hat, Mr. Thornton is sooo dreamy!
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I barely know Sam Riley, but cool that he lives in Berlin! Fingers crossed for new pics for you! 🙂
Yeah, John Thornton does it for me every time…
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You barely know him? I’m so obsessed w/ him now, well I hope you’d stop by when I do a massive tribute for Sam Riley in the next week or so. I did a few posts on RA a few years ago when I was really into him.
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