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***image1***Fasching, the “crazy season,” continues through Tuesday. Throughout the weekend, Rose Monday and Shrove Tuesday, masquerade balls and Fasching parties for children take place. Rose Monday is also known for parades winding their way through the main cities of Fasching – Mainz, Köln and Düsseldorf. They feature decorated floats with funny or political themes, music bands, walking and dancing groups. Thousands of spectators in disguise observe this spectacle. The parades start at 11:11 a.m. and end between 4 and 5 p.m.
In order not to have to compete with the big parades, other towns have their Fasching parades Sunday or Tuesday.
Ramstein-Miesenbach’s parade sponsored by the Bruchkatze Carnival Association starts at 2 p.m. Tuesday. It is the biggest in the Westpfalz area with more than 1,600 participants.
“It’s not only the biggest parade this year, it’s also the only one in the West Palatinate,” said Hartmut Schäffner, chief of the parade
committee.
The parade features 12 carnival associations, eight music groups, 40 walking groups and about 20 floats.
“Our French sister city, Maxéville, will also participate with a float called “The Little Mermaids,” said Mr. Schäffner. “And our American friends are represented by about 480 participants in walking groups and the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Marching Band.”
The walking groups include the Sembach Marching Tigers, Ramstein American High School Cheerleaders, Ramstein and Sembach girls scouts, Mardi Gras Colors and Kapaun School-Age Children.
More than 48,000 promotional items to include candies will be tossed to 30,000 to 50,000 spectators.
***image2***About 30 vendors sell parade buttons for €2. The buttons also serve as entrance tickets to the Haus des Bürgers, where a Fasching party with music and dancing takes place after the parade. Food and beverage booths are placed throughout the 3.25-kilometer route.
The almost two-hour long parade route was changed and walks the opposite direction now. It starts on Bahnhofstrasse, turns right into Miesenbacher Strasse and continues on Spesbacher Strasse.
Residents along the route are asked to decorate their houses to support the celebration.
“Also, parents should watch their kids, and for safety reasons, spectators shouldn’t get too close to the floats,” said Mr. Schäffner.
A Fasching carnival with a merry-go-round and activity booths is set up in front of the Haus des Bürgers from Sunday through Tuesday.
The center of town is closed Tuesday to motorized vehicles from noon to 6 p.m. and Bahnhofstrassse is closed until 8 p.m.
Other parades in the Pfalz are held in Frankenthal starting at 2:11 p.m. Saturday, in Linden at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, and in Dahn, Rodalben, Wachenheim/ German Wine Street and Weisenheim/Sand at 2:11 p.m. Sunday.
The Kaiserslautern carnival association, KVK, starts “Street Fasching” at 2:11 p.m. Tuesday. KVK members sing, dance and hold funny speeches on a stage near Stiftskirche.
Ash Wednesday will end the crazy season. Carnival association members and party-goers meet one more time for their traditional “Heringsessen,” the eating of herring. The herring is supposed to help ease hangovers. Also on Ash Wednesday, Lent, a 40-day fasting period for Roman Catholics, starts.
