Luzerner Fasnacht Photos

During Carnival season, many Swiss-German towns and cities organize Fasnacht festivities. The Luzerner Fasnacht—known for its informal and inclusive style—stands out from other Fasnachts held in Basel, Bern, and Zurich, among other cities.

In Luzern locals and tourists alike are invited to masquerade themselves—the more whimsical, creative, and colorful the better.

Here the Guggenmusik bands march through the Old Town in any direction they like—at all hours of the day until midnight, drums and bass melodies reverberate throughout the Old Town, inviting you to sing along and dance in the streets. I still have Robbie's Williams "Angels" stuck in my head. I actually like the Guggenmusik version much better than the original version. Especially the part around 3:58.

               

Every generation gets involved, from little kids who play "plastic instruments" to seniors with elaborate costumes and masks. And if you're there, you're fair game—kids (small and big) with bagfuls of confetti and colorful paper string roam the streets, tossing confetti at their friends and also at strangers. What fun. After a week of Fasnacht, the streets of Luzern, normally very clean and free of confetti, is littered with colorful confetti..which reminds me of Boston's Chinatown after Chinese New Year.

In contrast, the Basler Fasnacht is more formal and only official Fasnachtlers may dress up. The traditions are a little bit different compared to the one in Luzern as well. According to this blogger, you can't throw confetti at the participants. Where's the fun in that? 

Many of the masks and costumes you see in my Facebook photo album are handmade—great thought, effort, and fun was put into the making of the papier-mâché masks which are then painted in vivid colors. Next year I'd like to try making my own papier-mâché mask and costume. However, if you're looking for prêt à porter, seek out one of the ateliers below.

A commentor on Reblog wrote: You can buy masks at Manor during the weeks before Fasnacht. Used ones (with or without costumes) can be found at http://www.fasnachtskiste.ch or at various brockis. If you want to have a really beautiful, handmade one go to one of the ateliers, like http://www.ateliercharivari.ch, http://www.larve.ch, http://www.larvestube.ch, http://www.dildi.ch, just to mention a few. These masks are expensive but if you want to collect them as a piece of art, they are worth it. And don’t buy the plastic ones. They are cheaper, but only the paper ones are the original ones.

Have you visited Fasnacht or Carnival before in different cities? How do you celebrate? Looking forward to reading your comments and seeing your photos.