In New Orleans it is known as "Mardi Gras", in Latin America it is "Carnival", but in the German speaking nations the pre-Lenten celebration is known as "Fasnacht". The biggest and most famous "Fasnacht" in Switzerland is held in the city of Basel. Oddly enough, it occurs after the beginning at Lent. It always starts at 4 AM on the Monday after Ash Wednesday, and lasts exactly 72 hours, ending at 4 AM on Thursday. During those three days, the streets of Basel are filled with parades, music and costumed participants.
My Swiss cousin Walter and his wife Helen attended the event, and he posted photos of the celebration.
One major element of the festivities is satire of local and world events and the mockery of political figures. As you can imagine, a major target of mockery was a certain "orange pendejo".
I can't read Swiss German, but I can make out that this refers to the "pendejo's" appearance at the economic forum at Davos, Switzerland.
My cousin was concerned about sending these photos to me. He was afraid that I would get in trouble when I go to the United States if I had them on my cell phone. I told him that the U.S. is not yet a complete dictatorship, and that I have posted much worse than this on my blog.
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