and how do i go two months without a post, you ask? keine Ahnung. i pretty much spent a lot of time studying, Nick came to visit and then i was back in the States for a month, not to mention a fifteen day trek through Europe not even two days after my return to Germany.
so, i only went out photographing once in January, but it was magical. enter: die Narrenzünfte. Carnival is popular all over Europe and similar in time and manner to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. although, things are different around the Black Forest. Narrenzunft translates into 'fool's guild' and these groups get together for parades in every town around Carnival time. what happens: they drink a bit and then put on wooden witch masks and terrorize the bystanders. include marching bands. i loved it.
[ein Schwob mit meinem Karneval, bitte]it was like any other parade. the participants throw candy at the crowd and whatnot. BUT, there is the risk from not knowing if it's a good witch or a bad witch. sometimes you get goodies, sometimes you get a faceful of confetti before your reward. personally, i think it's a wonderful mix of fun without too much glam.
[Tübinger Teufel]reminded me much of Halloween when working at Sheetz. people are definitely different when in costume. for a college town where it is just an excuse for girls to dress like sluts, it usually means that people are overly obnoxious, but here, with masks, the barrier made the mischief less personal. blah blah blah. artistic discussion about the aesthetic symbolism of masks. puh, i saw it as people coming to an event for the sake of a fun time.
needless to say, it was a nice break from the books. it had snowed the night before and the streets were a bit icy. i stood at my favourite corner and got to look out over the square when things really got hopping. at the beginning, some kids were throwing fake snow out their window and down on the crowd, but the real snow later was icing on the cake. i think this picture captures it all.
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