Narri, Narro!

Alaaf Dear Reader,

In the interests of furthering my knowledge into Fasching and the Narren, my Saturday was also spent Treffen-ing the Narren. The daylight hours afforded a much greater success in photographing, so here are some of my snapshots from wandering around the Altstadt:

Some of the Narren were happier to be photographed than others:

My trip through the Altstadt landed me in the middle of the celebrations, which included some form of tree raising ceremony (honestly, no idea what was going on there) and groups of children playing a wooden instrument similar to maracas whilst singing what I believe to be traditional songs for this time of year. Again, I was confused and no-one seemed to be offering any form of explanation; although this lovely lady took a liking to my shopping and couldn't understand why I had brought it with me to this outdoor concert...

In the evening, I met up with some of my fellow exchange students for dinner and to try and work out what was going on! Even inside the restaurant, we were not safe, and three different musical big bands turned up during our meal to serenade our munching...

And just in case anyone was wondering how the marching musicians keep their beer safe, fear not dear friends, they have it all covered:

Going a-Narren Treffen-ing

Helau Dear Reader,

Sandwiched between clowns, chickens, snow queens and some ‘Narren’, I spent part of this evening happily dancing in the street to live music to celebrate the Grosses Narren Treffen coming to Konstanz.

A Narr (plural, Narren) roughly translates as ‘fool’ or ‘joker’, and they are a staple of Karneval/Fasching, which is a big week-long festival all over Germany before Lent begins, with lots of costumes, music, dancing, and, I would assume, drinking of beer. It is said that the ‘carnival season’ is actually the fifth season within Germany, and judging by tonight’s pre-Fasching celebration, it should be a lot of fun when the time comes. This weekend is the Grosses Narren Treffen (literally translated, Big Meeting of Fools), in which groups from around Baden-Würtemberg who arrange Fasching in their own towns, all join up together to have a pre-Fasching mini-Karneval each year.

Not having really understood how big a deal Karneval is within Germany, I did not quite know what to expect, and was rather underdressed as part of the minority of non-costumed people. Anything goes it seems, and Narrens themselves appear to differ between groups, with varieties in colour, scale-size, facial decoration and general shape of silhouette achieved!

I decided to go along to the Monsterkonzert, which turned out to be a meeting of many groups of Narren Big Bands, playing lots of jolly tunes, and basically having a bit of a street party. Not realising the event appeared to begin with a procession of some kind, I did manage to find myself walking along with some of the Narren with confused faces of little princesses and witches looking at me, trying to work out what I had come as!

Having worked out that being in the parade without costume is not great etiquette; I sidled off to stand on the street side, only to have an entire brass band seem to follow me to this position. I ended up behind a Narr carrying a metallic blue marching tuba (tuba decorations appear to be important, I also spotted a group with cow patterns), clad in a glittery blue robe, complete with frilly sparkly lace and fake fur. Happily I bopped around behind him, trying to look like I wasn’t a total lost tourist, and wondering whether the teddy bear suspended on the end of the trombone was going to come flying off at some point!

This group’s playing over, the next group began, which seemed to annoy my new favourite Tuba-Narr. Turning to me, he commented that the real way to have a Monsterkonzert was to have all the groups playing altogether at the same time (preferably all with the same piece of music). He also allowed me to stand inside his tuba for a bit, which was quite heavy and kindly laughed along with me as I attempted to bob around holding it in time to the music. Seeing the sympathetic looks of my fellow audience members, it was clear that they realised I had not got a clue what was going on – various older couples gave me the knowing “You don’t really understand what’s going on here, do you?” head tilt with small smile – clearly I will have to get a costume for the real thing…

German Lecture Culture

Ein gutes Rutsch ins neues Jahr Dear Reader,

This week has marked the restart of my lectures following the Christmas break, and I realise that I have not yet had the opportunity to present my social study of lecture-goers behaviour here in Konstanz.

Lectures here in Germany appear to fulfil a very different role than they do back at home. Whether it is a place to eat your Chinese takeaway, play a football game on the iPad or to have a jolly good chat with your neighbours, this appears to be the purpose of these row-filled rooms. Taking notes also appears to be lacking here among most of my fellow lecture-goers, and walking in/out of the room across the front of the lecturer is totally acceptable. Sometimes I wonder whether these people are simply going for a little walk or have discovered a secret alternative meeting of minds which will inform them in a better way. Half of my lecturers also appear to have adopted the talk-and-walk technique, going for a little wander through the rows of us in the audience whilst still speaking; though with their heads buried in their papers, I’m worried for the day they forget where the stairs are. Also, when did it become acceptable to start lectures at 08.30am and exams at 08.00? Evidently the German work ethic is very different from my own…Although good morning exercise is provided by your spinny chair, which constantly wants to thrust you forward through the desk knees first!

The end of the lecture also has its own peculiarities. Rather than polite applause or the sound of rustling papers, the Germans favour the academic knock (I am assured this also occurs in debate competitions, but possibly nowhere else?). This has only ever occurred in lectures, classes and events I have attended at the University, that at the end of a speech, the speaker is returned gratitude by people knocking and tapping on the table, chair or on themself. Not in a polite, ‘Are you in?’ type of way, but rather either in an aggressive rapping with great enthusiasm or in a decidedly half-hearted manner, barely making contact with the surface. I didn’t even realise you could make such a variation in your knocking ability, though it should be remembered that it is an appreciation of genius (or lack of) and as such, it must be completed before running out of the lecture hall with great gusto to avoid being the last person in the room. Perhaps there is an Audimax monster that eats the last student left - the lecture-goers do appear to be gradually decreasing in number...