After the Narrenbaum was erected, the city was ready for the big Night Parade. Led by a couple of marching bands, thousands of different Narren (as I said yesterday, Narren are something like a jester or Joker) ran through the city. Jumping, laughing, whip lashing and tangerine throwing, it was a fascinating moment.

Every city has their own traditional costumes, first you will see the city of Rottweil with their Federhannes, Schantle and Gschell. If you can sing a well known carnival quote, you will be rewarded with a handful of candy.

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The second city (hope you have umlauts enabled) is Überlingen with their Hänsele. A whip slashing and cap stealing Narr, their long noses are spayed with perfume and if you don’t watch out, they will brush your face with it.

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The third city is Oberndorf, with their Hansel, Schantele and Narro. A basket full of tangerines and a rod full of pretzels and if you are a lucky one, they will throw one of these yummy things towards you.

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The last city is Elzach with their Schuttig, a bunch of grimly, Soublodere swinging Narren. A Soublodere is a ballooned bladder of a pig on a stick, sounds yukky and yes it is.

Well, every one of these Schuttig has carried a torch and at the end they have sparked a big fire to celebrate the end of the first day.

Related posts:

1. Narrentag 2010 – Part 01 – The Beginning
2. Connichi 2010 – Part 01
3. Connichi 2010 – Part 02

Last weekend, I took a plane to Stuttgart , to watch an event which only takes place every 3-4 years, the Narrentag (which probably means something like “Day of the Jester”), organized by one of four famous carnival cities; Rottweil, Oberndorf, Elzach and Überlingen, all of them part of the Viererbund, a union between these four cities since 1958.

This year the parade took place in Oberndorf (Black Forest), about 1 hour away from Stuttgart.

As an opening ceremony, a decorated tree, the Narrenbaum, was erected, as a symbol that the Narrentag has officially begun.

Related posts:

1. Narrentag 2010 – Part 02 – The Night
2. Connichi 2010 – Part 01
3. Connichi 2010 – Part 02