Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Fertility Slaps

So after a long Monday night writing a long German paper for Poly Sci and a Theo paper fittingly about hell, I really wanted to get some sleep today. Tuesdays are my weekly dinner with my Gastfamilie so I was planning on having a quiet, short evening with them before heading back to Roessl, watching a movie and sleeping, little did I know that by the end of the night, I would have some fertility slapped in me.

I apologize for that last sentence, just read the rest of the post and it'll make more sense (hopefully).

Everything was going to plan, we had a nice meal of Kaesespatzle, a kind of Tirolean macoroni and cheese and we started watching a slalom ski race on TV. I kind of am obsessed with the sport now. I'm only mentioning this because we humorously discovered that there was some DJ playing songs when each racer went that correlated to their country of origin (sort of). I noticed this first with a Japanese skiier, they were playing "Kung Fu Fighting" when he went. Then we realized it wasn't a coincidence when ABBA started playing to the background of the Sweedish skier to go next. Then a crappy Italian pop song for the Suedtiroler skiier and so on. After discussing the political correctness of this DJ who had too much time on his hands, my Gastmutter randomly mentioned that she heard of a Faschings event going on in a small town 15 minutes away. We decided to check it out reguardless of my exhaustion, I can sleep when I'm older.

Fasching is the strange season that begins on November 11, (11-11) and extends until Lent. It is known as being the 'ball season' where various clubs and organizations throughout Austria host large black and white dances. I am going to the UniBall this Saturday, the largest University social event of the year. Another thing about Fasching is that there is a kind of traditional ceremony that the rural places still carry out. I am not really sure exactly what everything means but I think the general idea is to drive out winter and bring in the summer. You know, like any other pagan ritual. It involves men dressing in Lederhosen and elaborite masks, and what else, alcohol.

I had no idea what exactly we were going to, I'm not even sure my mother did, she just kind of read about it in the newspaper that morning. Well we arrive at this Gasthaus, a kind of traditional restraunt and apparently you needed tickets to get in and they were sold out, but they suggested we just stand at the doorway and look in the dining room as it all happens. So we each got a beer and waited for the festivites to begin. The room itself reminded me of a camp dining hall: a large wooden room with long tables, decorated very flamboyantly with colorful streamers and giant masks. Well, I guess we were standing in the kind of prep room before the 'performers' did their thing so a strange crowd of about 25 young men all arrived in strange costumes. They were wearing an assortment of clothing and the costumes included: disturbingly short lederhosen, colorful shag (think: gay chewbacca), suit with colorful pom poms glued all over, women's dresses, and a few suits with thousands of tiny pieces of wood hanging off that resemble those paint stirrers that hardware stores throw handfulls of at you whenever you approach the paint section. Right before they went on, they all put on these very interesting masks. Most were simply wooden carvings of a man's face with a kind of dirty porn star moustache with any assortment of decorations around it. These were both subtle and extreme. One had a 4 foot tall headdress kind of thing with mirrors, feathers, and sequins that he seemed to steal from an Elton John concert.

The festivities began when a masked man started playing an accordian and one by one each of the characters came out dancing and interacting with the crowd. First, these men dressed as hags went out and brushed people with their brooms. Then the men with the lederhosen ran out and started doing the traditional Tirolean dance called the Schuehplattler which is German for absolutely hilarious. It involves a lot of slapping, jumping, and high kicking to rhythms. If you ever stop laughing at them you would realize its a pretty complicated, rhythmic dance. Then the paint stirrer boys ran into the crowd with a twisting jerking dance that really made their outfits loud. Many of them were making the screaming noise that goofy would always make in cartoons when he would be falling or something, its really quite difficult to describe, a kind of high pitched "aaaaaaah hooo hoooie." But it wonder if Goofy was inspired from Tirolean Fasching ceremonies. This went on for some time and the men would go amongst the tables, reach into their costumes, pull out a flask, and offer some schnapps to the ladies. They would also give everyone a hefty slap which my gastmutter called a "Fruchtbarschlag" or a fertility slap. This went on for some time until the performers got tired, took of their masks and half their costumes, grabbed ein Bier and joined the party.

Apparently every town has their own traditions with the holiday, and every town has their own troupe of young men who do their own Faschings dance celebration. This night apparently 4 different towns were sending their dancers. I would have loved to stay and watch the next three towns' perfomances, but we didn't have anywhere to sit and I was already dog tired from the lack of sleep from the night before and the party went on till at least midnight so we decided to leave after this small but delicious taste of Tirolean tradition. When we went outside, it had started to snow for the first time since the new year. Looks like they need to work on their winter-driving out skills.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha, I read that whole post! But yes, I am quite the social procrastinator. I feel as though I would have immensely enjoyed that bizzare show as well. Also, when did I tell you my flatmate was going to Frankfurt? I did pass on your suggestion though, and thinking myself of going to Austria in April sometime, so I can judge if I have enough money to even get out of the city!

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now. Keep it up!
And according to this article, I totally agree with your opinion, but only this time! :)