Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht

What it is

Fastnacht is a late winter carnival kept in the Alemannic regions of central Europe. It comes before Lent, the weeks of fasting that open on Ash Wednesday in the western Christian year. Towns, villages and city quarters hold their own parades, club evenings and masked gatherings, and the jesters at the front of them belong to local societies. Because Lent is fixed by the date of Easter, the whole season shifts from year to year. Two things set Fastnacht apart from the Rhenish carnival further north: masks and costumes that are kept and cared for all year, and neighbourhood groups in place of large commercial processions.

Masks and jesters

Carved masks sit at the centre of the custom, and people treat them with care. In several places a mask spends the year in a living room and is brought out when the season opens. Groups in the upper Neckar valley send figures dressed in black from door to door, airing costumes that have been stored away, and at Rottenburg am Neckar women go through the guests and furniture of local inns in a comparable cleaning. At Schramberg the jester's clothing is blessed aloud with a verse. Bells hang on the costume, the Häser, and their sound carries along the parade route.

Origins and history

Gatherings of this kind go back a long way. People in central Europe were already meeting to eat up food that would not survive Lent by the 13th century, and dances, processions and carnival plays joined the custom from the 14th century onwards. Early twentieth-century writers guessed at pre-Christian roots and read the festival as a fertility rite. Work led by Werner Mezger set that aside: the name comes from fasten, to fast, and the observance is Christian. Scholars today hold that the church's calendar and teaching made Fastnacht possible, and that figures such as devils and demons echo the old idea of a city of the devil standing against the city of God.

Food before the fast

The days before Lent are days of eating. The Thursday that comes just before Ash Wednesday is Schmotziger Donnerstag, and in the Alemannic dialects the word schmotzig refers to lard or fat. The nickname remembers the old habit of finishing the winter's lard and butter before the fast began, and the same day is Women's Carnival elsewhere, when custom says women take charge. Recipes for the season were cooked then, and food held a central place in the older celebrations. Around 1500 the guilds of Nuremberg staged processions called Schembartläufe, and butchers in several cities danced while holding rings of sausage.

Today and change

For a long time Fastnacht lived in the shadow of the Rhenish carnival and only became a distinct tradition in the early 20th century. Carnival had given the pre-Lenten season a new form in the 18th century, and the Alemannic regions took that up in their own way, while the 20th century also brought a deliberate look back to medieval and early modern practice. Local clubs now run dancing events and hall sessions, and the old masks stand alongside them. Some customs came later: the Wednesday evening proclamations in the Black Forest and the mask incantations of Upper Swabia were established after the Second World War.

How Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht is kept

The season opens at Epiphany, 6 January, when clubs announce their programme and masked groups gather. Costumes and masks are cleaned, aired and in some places blessed with a spoken verse. From Candlemas on 2 February the calendar fills with events, and jesters perform in verse and song, retelling the past year's notable incidents. The high days come in the week before Ash Wednesday. Fat Thursday brings the first large parades, the pubs fill each evening, and jesters without masks move from one to the next. Fastnacht Tuesday closes the season, and the next morning Lent begins.

When and where

The season opens at Epiphany on 6 January and reaches its high days in the week before Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday sits 46 days before Easter Sunday, and Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, so the dates move each year. A few places begin on 11 November instead, following the Rhenish pattern.

It is kept where Swabian and Alemannic dialects are spoken: German-speaking Switzerland, Alsace, Vorarlberg in western Austria, much of Baden-Württemberg and the south-west of Bavaria. Switzerland and southern Germany hold the densest traditions, and the towns and villages there keep their own figures, costumes and parades rather than one shared style.

What Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht means

For the people who keep it, Fastnacht marks the last stretch of eating and noise before Lent's quiet. The masked figures carry the season's meaning: jesters stand for the fleeting nature of life and for separation from God and death, devils and demons recall the pull away from him, and in the Alpine processions the ugly Perchten belong to the dark of winter while the beautiful ones greet the coming spring. The fast that follows gives the feasting its edge.

Days Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht is marked

Questions people ask about Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht

See also

Christmas EveThe evening before Christmas, marked by church services, family meals, and gift preparations across Christian cultures.AdventA four-week Christian season of waiting and preparation for Christmas and the Second Coming.MaifestA traditional German celebration marking the arrival of spring with decorated maypolesMardi GrasA festive day of parades and rich foods marking the final celebration before the Christian fasting season of Lent begins

Good reading and sources

• Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.