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Basel: Deafening whistle and drum concert by the carnival cliques at 4 a.m
Photo: Georgios Kefalas/dpa
The Basel carnival began with a whistle and drum concert on Monday morning at 4 a.m. sharp. In the completely darkened and silent city, exactly on the hour, the call “Morgestraich: Forward, march!” rang out – the starting signal for the three foolish days.
By Wednesday morning, around 20,000 active members of the carnival cliques were out and about in the city. They wear elaborate costumes, but dressing up is frowned upon by spectators. The festival, which, as always, is celebrated a week after Shrove Monday, is considered the most important Protestant carnival in the world. Around 200,000 visitors are expected in the Swiss city every year.
In addition to the pipers who play the piccolo flutes, the carnival clubs carry or push artistically painted lanterns, some meters high, through the city. The motifs are often sharp-tongued comments on local and world politics. Like the floats at Rose Monday parades, they target political and social events. The motto of the 2024 carnival is “outlaw”.
The schnitzel benches are also typical of the carnival in Basel. These are mocking songs in verse form that are performed in bars over the course of three days and comment on current events in a humorous, satirical and biting way.
wit/dpa