After a few years without, this year I once again enjoyed the Basel carnival, a spectacle that brought color and joy to an otherwise rather dull week.
This week began with a very early start. The alarm clock went off at three o’clock and half an hour later we were on our way to Münsterplatz where we joined thousands of other spectators for the Morgestreich at 4 o’clock sharp. The start of the Basel Fasnacht is a special experience. Not just because of the time. The conversations of the crowds that fill the streets and squares of the old town fall silent a few seconds before 4 o’clock to listen to the chime of the church tower clock, which signals the start of the three most beautiful days, as Fasnacht is also known in Basel. Then all the lights go out and in the dark countless drummers and piccolo players begin to play the Morgestreich, the first march at the start of the carnival. They walk through the streets and alleyways carrying colorful lanterns, the only sources of light on this morning. The spectacle lasts until daybreak and is definitely worth being a little tired for the rest of the day.
Basel at 4 am
Three days of joie de vivre
The next few days and nights are filled with drums and flutes and the music of brass bands that walk continuously through the city center. There are also parades. As omnipresent as the noise level are the Räppli, confetti that lies on the streets like colorful snow and the Waggis, one of the city’s traditional carnival figures. The Basel Fasnacht lasts until Thursday morning at exactly 4 o’clock. Then everything falls silent just as suddenly as it began. At dawn, the city is tidy and clean, as if the carnival had never taken place.
The streets colorful covered with confetti
Back to gray
The Fasnacht also marked the end of the spring-like weather we were blessed with last week. Cold, wet and gray days followed. On a short walk in the countryside, I was still able to take something good out of it all. The fields are prepared for sowing grain and lie smooth and gentle in the landscape. There is the smell of fresh earth in the air, something of home if you grew up in the countryside. I found the different shades of dark, rich brown remarkable. In the forest, the first flowers are ready to open their blossoms on the next sunny day. They are still almost invisible in last year’s dry foliage, but the cycle is closing and new life is about to begin.
In preparation for spring
New perspectives
A visit from a friend who moved into a new apartment rewarded me with new views of the city. I always find that exciting and was glued to the windows to see the supposedly familiar from above. I lived in this part of the city for a long time and know every street from a pedestrian’s perspective. But the height provides insights into the inner courtyards, shows the rear buildings and so much more that remains hidden from the street side. Another example of the fact that nothing is as it seems – the realization that runs as a common thread through my work.
Well known places seen from above
