Marching Past To Present Issues

Savour swiss culture and social commentary at Basel's sassy carnival

- Prathap Nair

On a sunny, late winter afternoon, there is palpable excitement at Barfüsserplatz, Basel’s centuries-old market square. Chock-a-block with old-school cafés and watched over by a medieval monastery turned museum, the vibe is contagious. What’s underway is Cortège, an extravagant parade part of Switzerland’s much-awaited, 72-hour-long Basler Fasnacht, or the Carnival of Basel.

Hundreds of revellers, including children in eye-popping costumes are marching in orderly parcels, their pink lips bracketed by brightly painted cat whiskers. Moving in neat blocks, some teams, or cliques as the Swiss call them, are raising piccolos to their mouths with practiced synchrony to pipe tunes. Elsewhere, fifers are rhythmically drumming instruments festooned to their torsos.

What stands out most is the sheer volume of confetti in the air… overflowing out of plastic bags, escaping between high-spirited high-fives, piled on handmade carts. I somehow manage to jostle for some standing room by the kerbside. As if on cue, the weather turns stormy, causing the whooshing winds to suspend fistfuls of star-shaped confetti up in a whirlpool. Red, blue, golden, they settle on my face like stardust, endowing me with a dramatically ceremonial welcome to Fasnacht. I am only but glad.