2022: Carnival while bombs are falling

A short moment elapses between the lights out at four o’clock sharp and the first use of the piccolos and drums, which in the city of Basel amounts to a kind of limbo. Exactly in this second, the city changes from normal to an epicenter: Thousands of musicians simultaneously (but not synchronously) intonate the opening march «Morgestraich». The trains start moving. Each clique has its own pace, its own rhythm, mixing chaos and unity in an endless sea of ​​sounds and lights.

A magical moment

Many Basel residents experience this moment as the most magical of the whole carnival. This was no different on Morgestraich this Monday – on a carnival where almost everything else is different than in previous years. The hot phase of the corona pandemic has only just come to an end. Until a few weeks ago it was unclear whether the carnival would have to be canceled for the third time in a row. The preparation time for the cliques and the other active carnival participants was extremely short. Foreign tourists in particular are likely to have traveled less. In the inner city, the crowds seemed less dense on Monday morning than they already were.

Many cliques are doing without a topical one this year subject – So on a topic that they make fun of with costumes and sayings, on lanterns and with props. The preparations for this take several months. Because the 2020 carnival was canceled just three days before it started, many cliques are now resorting to what was then subject back. Corona, the big topic of the last two years, was therefore only visible in trace elements on the Morgestraich. the Cortege in the afternoon, a well-organized parade with a fixed route, is completely cancelled.

The Fasnacht, 2022 edition, should therefore be different, maybe a bit more playful and experimental, that’s what one hoped. But now a terrible war in the middle of Europe dominates everything else. The worries and dismay are immense. The world itself is now in a state of limbo, while for the people of Basel the “three nice days” take place. How does that even work?

This has been the subject of intense discussion in Basel over the last few days. While the carnival in Cologne and other German cities was canceled, this option was not seriously discussed here. «The Basel Fasnacht is not a superficially funny folk festival. She is also characterized by a serious examination of current issues, »explains Basel SP Co-President Lisa Mathys on Twitter. In doing so, she gets to the heart of the self-image of the people of Basel.

The historian Alain Grimm, himself an active carnival participant in the traditional clique “Basler Wednesday Society”, adds to the NZZ: “By mocking the aggressors, we process our helplessness and anger.” Rarely in history did carnival not take place at all or only in a reduced form, such as during the two world wars or the Spanish flu. When the second Gulf War broke out shortly before the carnival in 1991, a cancellation was discussed but then rejected.

At the time, a carnival attendant had “specified the tariff in verse form for how carnival can be held in Basel, especially in difficult times”, as can be read in the “Basler Stadtbuch”:

E Kennig, where kai vertrait mockery

and drum sy Hofnaar duet vertryybe

it won’t be long at the rudder blyybe!

So enough with Naaseboore

Authorities, spitzed d Oore:

Au in Kryyse breaks me fun.

Naare – allz hopp – uff d’Gass!

Autocrats and dictators have therefore always been regular guests at the Basel carnival – including Putin. In 2015, after the annexation of Crimea, several cliques devoted themselves to the Russian ruler’s lust for power. At that time, the carnival crowd had enough lead time to target Putin directly. And they did it in full force. On the laderne At the time, the “Basel Wednesday Society” showed Putin in menacing shades of black and red – sitting on a rocket.

Stalin Seppi asks himself in the grave:

Dr Putin does it, how ärs gärn Wetti.

Appropriately, they also wrote poetry «d Basler Dybli» downright prophetic from today’s perspective:

Scho groote si in Greesewaan,

draime from Russian Dschingis Khan

and fell with me fyyse Blaan

em Weschte now mool uff e Zaan.

It would be obvious to bring such old Putin sayings, lanterns or costumes out of the basement and play them out at carnival as a political statement. This has been considered variously in the last few days, but it will hardly happen on a large scale. Warming up old subjects is tricky because many things are no longer up-to-date. The carnival fans know: Punch lines work when they are written to the point, otherwise it quickly seems out of place. In addition, the Fasnacht lives above all from creativity and not from the archives. It will be interesting to see what the people of Basel think of at the last minute about the outrageous war.

“Fortunately we can be happy again”

At the Morgestraich the war was not yet an issue. Especially from the Schnitzelbänkler, who can react faster with their short verses, sharp maliciousness is to be expected. For the first time they appear on Monday evening in the pubs and clique cellars. In the last few days, the active carnival participants have also thought extensively about other options for reacting appropriately to the horror in Ukraine. A minute’s silence in the evening throughout the city is up for discussion, as is the idea of ​​donating part of the proceeds from the carnival plaque.

Ultimately there is the However, carnival as a collectively organized event is not. The carnival happens, it has something anarchistic about it. This was also evident in the two Corona years during which Fasnacht was banned. However, the city never let its magic be taken away entirely. The imagination and esprit of each individual make up the Fasnacht – this also applies in times of crisis.

Renanto Poespodihardjo, head of the psychologist at the Center for Addiction at the Basel University Psychiatric Clinic (UPK) draws attention to the social status of the carnival at the same time – and independently of the war: one should not condemn those who take part in the carnival. Right now, Fasnacht is emotionally essential for people, he said in the “Basler Zeitung”: “For all of us, Fasnacht sets the pace in the annual cycle. It is something that connects us. Luckily we can enjoy the carnival again.”

Despite all the difficulty, the Morgestraich was simply beautiful: in cold weather with temperatures below freezing, the spectators lined the streets and squares. Dry and icy weather is ideal for the Basel carnival, especially for the innkeepers: In such weather, visitors like to come to the city center, but they like to go to the warm pubs often. Before five o’clock in the morning it was almost impossible to find a seat in the bars in the center of Basel. On this beautiful Morgestraich, people were happy to treat themselves to a flour soup or Zibele- und Käswaie (onion and cheesecake). Even a beer or a glass of wine was not to be missed despite the early hour. It’s just part of it.