by Torsten Herzog | 3 March 2022
Many names, but all mean the same thing: the "foolish festival" or "festival of fools", which is celebrated in most of the German-speaking world!
...including of course, the German European School Manila -- particularly, the German Section Primary! All students celebrated the annual feast of all fools in the auditorium.
Since the pandemic, we've had very special conditions in the classroom, all students have to follow the physical distancing rules. This was no easy feat with a jesterly celebration like this!
The day fell exactly on the day when the so-called Weiberfastnacht is celebrated in some parts of Germany. On this day, women of a city of community decide whatever happens! Often, the town halls are stormed, and the councilmen gathered there have their neckties cut off with scissors. This is then considered as the sign of the "assumption of rule"!
But things didn't get that "bad" at our school event. We entered the auditorium with the Mainz Narrhala March. We romped around the auditorium to selected German carnival music and were of course always careful to keep the required distance, which was not so easy! In the costume contest, the mighty proud Natalia Jung from Klasse 1D was the winner! The foolish games that followed were the absolute highlight of the party, apart from the pirate song, which all the children performed. The Polonaise Blankenese then concluded the festivities. Here, even Kamellen (that's what they call sweets in Cologne) were thrown around and enthusiastically caught by the children or picked up from the ground.
Despite all the social distancing rules and children who were only able to join virtually from home, it was great fun for all children and teachers! We now hope that next year this celebration will be again as we have known it for years -- a great clownish get-together -- without any pandemic-related protocols!
