earthmann

I love these Germans and their festivals. We just celebrated Fasching last week. Basically, it has the same raison d'etre as Mardi Gras, but with a lot more substance. In my limited experience in the states it seems activities that involve heavy drinking, street dancing, and cross dressing typically exist for the entertainment of drunken frat boys tossing plastic beads and the bare boobied girls who gratefully recieve them. The good citizens stay at home and watch the spectacle from the comforts/confines of their lazy boy tv chair, nodding their head in silent wonder, thanking the good lord their generation never fell for the lure huffing.

Where as here in Germany the celebrations are attended by entire families, from grandpas with painted faces to babies in wicker strollers. No doubt, the alcohol and the frenzied air make for some hedonistic moments, but for the most part this is just good fun. dancing with strangers, arm and arm, grabbing wine from some girls hand and upending it without barly a "could I...?" Drinking beer by the half liter, out of a bottle no less. Imagine that, People drinking in the crowded streets and with glass bottles. No one threw them into the sea of people, no one brandished broken bottles. Just lovely stuff.
And it is a great excuse for an otherwise straight young man from Texas to wear fishnets, feathered boas, and eyemake-up.