In smaller villages, like in Lehde, which is a 20 minutes' walk away from Lübbenau, Karnaval is also celelbrated, but there it is called Zampern. On saturday, I participated in my first Zampern and it was a lot of fun. Zampern in Lehde started at 9 am, and as most of you know, at 9 am, I am still FAST asleep. There was no way I was waking up at 8 am on a Saturday morning to get to Lehde in time for 9 am. No way, not even for Zampern!!! Ronny and I only made it to Lehde at 4 pm that afternoon, but it turned out that it was perfect timing. I got to see enough of what Zamnpern is all about to realize that even if I had made it there for 9 am, there was no way I would still be standing on my own two feet by 4 pm. Why you ask? Well, as all of you already know by now, when there is a celebration of any kind here in Germany, it is accompanied by a ridiculous amount of alcohol, and Zampern was no different. What exactly is Zampern you ask? For Zampern, people put on costumes and walk around the village, stopping at every restaurant, guest house and holiday house singing, playing music (performed by the village's Firebrigade, moonlighting as the village's band),dancing, drinking and eating, while at the same time collecting eggs, bottles of booze and money. The eggs are eaten later that evening for the Zampernessen, and the money and alcohol collected during the day are saved for a big village party that takes place two weeks later.
Zampern is celebrated as a way to chase the winter ghosts away and to welcome the spring season.
By the time Ronny and I arrived, the group was in great spirits! I had a great time visiting the last few houses with the group, and although I was not disguised, I was warmly welcomed by everyone- of course it helped that I come from Canada and that I speak German with a French accent!!!!
I love experiencing things like Zampern. Coming from a big city like Montreal, and from such a young country as Canada, celebrations such as this week-end's are not part of what I know and therefore it is super interesting and very entertaining to participate in all of these news experiences.
A note to my still unknown message leaving friend- are we friends by the way? No, I haven't read "Sophie's World". Do I need to read that book to discover who you are? I really have no clue who you might be!!! Do you live in Montreal or here in Germany? Can you give me another clue about your identity?
3 comments:
Why is everyone wearing bagels around their necks?
Oh, moonshine is liquor you distill in your back yard, moonlighting is filling in at another job.
Kevin!
1. Thanks for the correction...!!!
2. Everyone is not wearing bagels around their necks. Everyone is wearing bretzels around their necks! They are there so that you can nibble on them while you go from house to house, drinking yourself silly!
I love the idea of a pretzel necklace. It is a great time-saver -- this way you don't actually have to stop, sit down and have a meal to soak up all of the excess beer, you can just nibble as you go.
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