This is now my eighth season of Fasching and I must say, it gets better each year.  A lot of the guilds or clubs are old and the masks have been handed down for generations but we took the train to yesterday's parade and rode with a bunch of Rebhuhner (some kind of chicken) who told us that new clubs are starting all the time and that the masks are carved specially in the Black Forest at a cost of about 200 Euros for each new guild member.  

Witches were swinging from the tractor lifts, pig bladders were snapping, and little old church ladies were spanking winter's butt with their fans.  The geese were giving out eggs, the devils were cracking their whips, and the pigs were launching stink bombs in the streets.  The tags that you see pinned to the sides of the masks are so you can report the masked ones who get too rowdy.  They seem to love my long gray locks which have been, by far, the most effective draw since it's been warm enough to take my hat off.  

Every girl and woman awaits a stamp of approval and my daughter got plenty of "schmutz," beginning with a "Krauterscheisser" (translation: "weedshitter") who stamped her with green ink;  this progressed to a coal miner completely blacking her face with his shoe polished hand.  She has a broken wrist at the moment so I was glad she didn't get dragged.  Last year, I lost a shoelace which got strung through witch's nostrils but this year it was all bear hugs, enforced Schnapps-chugging straight from the bottle (two servings -- not bad for a tea-totaller) and a blue ink stamp from Kasper.