Mitteleuropa, Baden - Wolfacher Fasnet

One week before Ash Wednesday, Shrovetide is proclaimed out of a waggon in various places of the town of Wolfach. After the "Eleven o'clock Mass" on the following "Dirty Thursday" pretzels are distributed to the children. The procession of the coffee-party tabbies takes place in the afternoon of the same day. Shrovetide proper is opened on Shrove Monday by the so-called "Well-awake", a historical custom meant to wake up the fools. The big Shrove Monday procession in the afternoon is followed by the Shrovetide play about the abduction and the liberation of the gipsy princess. On Shrove Thuesday, the children have a procession of their own during which the Pretzel Fool is carried along. Towards the evening, the Procession of the Noses is passing through the streets; women disguised as males that have been practicipating are plunged into the fountain. Shrovetide ends on Ash Wednesday when the fool break into lamentations at the Wailing Wall and are then going to wash their money-bags in the fountain.