Based on the religious Lent and Fasting with just a touch of pagan, Mardi Gras, Carnival, Fasnacht, whatever you call it, was a devilish display of dancing, parading, overindulging, and just plain fun. From sophisticated Lucerne to relaxed villages like Sattel, even though the celebration is the same, every city and village has to tweak it.

The Carnival of Basel (German: Basler Fasnacht) is the biggest carnival in Switzerland and takes place annually between February and March in Basel. It has recently been listed as one of the top fifty local festivities in Europe.
The Basler Fasnacht starts on the Monday after Ash Wednesday at precisely 4:00 am with the so-called Morgestraich. The carnival lasts for exactly 72 hours and, therefore, ends on Thursday morning at 4:00 am. During this time, the old town of Basel is ruled by the Fasnächtler (the participants), where they run loose in the streets and restaurants. Basler Fasnacht is often referred to as die drey scheenschte Dääg ("the three most beautiful days").

Costumes

The approximately 18,000 active Fasnächtler are dressed up in a wide variety of costume designs, including a mask known as a Larve. Participants are completely covered and remain incognito during the festivities; it is considered highly inappropriate to identify oneself. Members of the various Cliques (see below) wear uniform costumes that fit a specific theme, except for during Morgestraich and Fasnacht Tuesday. It is very common for costumes to represent famous persons, such as politicians, or even comic characters or animals. There are also more traditional masks that are reminiscent of Napoleonic soldiers, harlequins (Harlekin) and the famous Waggis.

Confetti

According to some local historians, the throwing of confetti is a typical tradition from Basel that later spread to the rest of the world. While there is no proof for this theory, the amount of confetti used during Basler Fasnacht is huge in comparison to other carnivals.
Originally, sweets in the form of small sugar balls known as confetti (an Italian name, similar to the English confectionery) were given away or thrown at the crowd during the parade. After this practice was prohibited in the 19th century, small shards of paper were used as a replacement. Until it was banned in the second half of the 20th century, it was also common to use straw instead of confetti, although wheat chaff is still sometimes thrown in some of the outlying towns and regions.
In the Basel German dialect, confetti are called Räppli, and only single-coloured confetti can be purchased in Basel. Confetti is available in all possible colours, but never mixed. This was decided by the regional confetti manufacturers to prevent the once-common practice of reselling "used" confetti. Throwing mixed confetti is seen as very bad form, since one would have picked it up from the street, which is obviously an unhygienic practice.
For spectators, there is the ever-present danger of being attacked from behind by a confetti-throwing Waggis, especially if not wearing a Carnival badge (see below) known as a Blaggedde (which sounds similar to plaquette to French and English listeners). It is an unwritten law that masked and/or costumed participants are not subject to confetti attacks.
By the evening, the routes of the Cortège (parade) are ankle-deep in confetti. Even so, Basel's sanitation department succeeds in clearing away this mess within two hours during the night, so, by the following morning, there is little evidence of the previous day's events.
At the Basel Carnival there are five major groups of participants.

Cliques

One of the oldest formations are the Cliques, who march through the old town playing the piccolo and basler drum. A Clique usually consists of a Vortrab (vanguard), the Pfeifer (pipers), the Tambourmajor (drum major) and the Tambouren (drummers). Except on Cortège, the Cliques do not follow fixed routes, and it is thus very common for different Cliques to cross paths. In that case, one Clique will stop and let the other Clique pass. Spectators, on the other hand, will be politely guided off the route by the Vortrab.

Gugge (brass band)

Marching brass bands playing Guggenmusik are another formation present during Carnival. These Gugge will not participate on Morgestreich, but only at Cortège on Monday, Wednesday, the evenings and especially on Tuesday night when they hold their Gugge-Concerts.

Schnitzelbank singers

The Schnitzelbank singer is a bard that sings satirical verses about current events in Basel or from around the world. The verses are sung in Basel German. Similar verses are also distributed by the various Cliques in flyers known as Zeedel. The singers appear regularly in the restaurants and bars on Monday and Wednesday night and in the clique-cellars (local Clique meeting halls) on Tuesday.

Floats

During the Cortège, there are many trucks or tractors with decorated trailers. In these large trailers (Waage) are usually Waggis throwing oranges, sweets, flowers or other treats to (or at) the crowd. The Waggis also shower bystanders with copious amounts of confetti. The Waggis are an affectionate spoof on the Alsatian farmers who, in the distant past, regularly rolled up to Basel markets to sell produce. Some trucks are on display on the Kasernenareal from Monday night to Wednesday morning.
Similar to the Waage are the smaller carriages (Chaise / Schäse) with only 2-4 people giving away treats. Most of the people in the carriages, generally less rude than the Waggis, are dressed as old ladies and referred to as the Alti Tante (meaning "old aunt"), giving them a near-royal feeling.

Schyssdräggziigli

There are also many non-Clique individuals and small groups known as Schyssdräggziigli who wander through the streets. As the Cliques, they play music with piccolo and drums.

Morgestraich

The Morgestraich on Monday morning marks the beginning of the Carnival in Basel. At exactly 4 am all the lights in the old town of Basel are turned off, and the Industrielle Werke Basel (the Industrial Works of Basel are the public utility organisation of the city) shuts down the streetlights. The only light remaining comes from the lanterns of the Cliques. There are two major types of lanterns, the large Zugslaterne (parade lanterns) that are wheel-mounted or carried by 2 to 4 people in front of the Cliques; and the head-mounted Kopflaterne (head lanterns) that every participant wears. Some Cliques have uniform Kopflaterne as traditionally on Morgestraich, nobody wears uniform costumes.
With the command "Morgestraich, vorwärts marsch!" ("Morgestraich, forward march!") from the drum majors, all Cliques begin to march and play their instruments. No Guggenmusik is played during Morgestraich.
From 4 am on Monday, many restaurants and bars in the old town open their doors and remain open for the following 72 hours. There, it is possible to sample traditional Basler carnival specialties, such as flour soup, Zwiebelkuchen and Käsewähe (a quiche-like baked dish).

Children and Family Fasnacht

The Children and Family Fasnacht is on Tuesday in Basel (this varies from town to town). On this day, there are many parades through the city, but, this time, it is not the Cliques that take part, rather families with their children. If the people come from different Cliques, it is common to see groups with mixed costumes and masks.
It is not expected that the children, especially the youngest, will wear the heavy traditional costumes and masks. Besides the Waggis, cowboy costumes for boys and princess costumes for girls are the most common.
It remains unclear exactly why Carnival starts one week later in Basel than elsewhere in Switzerland or Germany.

The common explanation is that after the Reformation in 1520, Basel continued celebrating its Fasnacht, while the other regions officially stopped. It is said, that in order to differ from the Catholic customs, Fasnacht was scheduled one week later starting in 1529. There are no documents from this era supporting this theory, and the resolutions from 1529 were not quoted until 200 years later.

Historians note that the Catholic carnival date was rescheduled six days earlier in 1091 in the Council of Benevent, because the Sundays were excluded from the 40-day fasting period before Easter, making Ash Wednesday the first day of Lent. From then until the 16th century, the two carnival dates existed. The first one, ending on Ash Wednesday, was known as the Herren- or Pfaffenfasnacht (lords' or priests' carnival) and was observed by those members of the higher echelons of society. The second, one week later at the old time, was known as the Bauernfasnacht (farmers' carnival). Afterwards, only this second carnival was celebrated in Basel.

Today, the Carnival of Basel is said to be "the only Protestant carnival in the world".

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