The carnival in

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

, Switzerland (german: Berner Fasnacht) is an annual pre-

Lenten Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and L ...

festival in the Swabian-Alemannic tradition. Its origins can be traced back to the 15th century, and in 1513 the carnival led to a peasant revolt. The Bernese carnivals were held more or less regularly in medieval times, with strong anti- Papal rhetoric occurring between 1523 and 1525. After the Peasants' War religious themes in carnivals were prohibited and did not return until the local reformation of 1528 returned freedom of speech and expression to the Protestants. Authorities also tried to ban carnivals in later centuries. The carnival as it is known today was introduced in 1982, and is unique because it incorporates the city's history by beginning the carnival with the symbolic freeing of the bear. The carnival in Bern in the country's third largest such celebration.

Carnival beginnings

Carnival was established in Bern during the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

period. In Bern, the term for carnival is either ''Fasnacht'' or ''Fastnacht'' which means on the eve of fasting. Before the beginning of

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Lu ...

, or the 40-day fasting period, feasts and folk-festivals were commonly held. During the 15th, century Bern began to grow in importance, and in the 1420s during a carnival the

cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

for the new ''Rathaus'' was laid. The importance of the city became noticeable as visitors flocked to the city during the carnival celebrations. From the mid- to the end of the 15th century Bern saw visitors to the yearly carnival arrive from surrounding cities and Cantons such as

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label= Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital o ...

and as far away as from Cantons such as

Schwyz The town of Schwyz (; french: Schwytz; it, Svitto) is the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ' ...

Carnival during the Reformation

During the 16th century, the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

caused a rift between the Protestant and Catholic citizenry of Bern, and according to scholars the city considered keeping to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

as late as 1526; however, during this period playwrights used the opportunity to present an

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...

message during the carnival (or shrovetide) Lenten celebrations. Some Reformation era carnival plays depicted contrasts between

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

s and

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

s, while others contrasted

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

s and gentiles, such as in ''Goliath'' by Hans von Rüte.Ehrstine, pp. 221, 222

Niklaus Manuel Niklaus Manuel Deutsch (''Niklaus Manuel'', c. 1484 – 28 April 1530), of Bern, was a Swiss artist, writer, mercenary and Reformed politician. Biography Niklaus was most likely the son of Emanuel Aleman (or Alleman), a pharmacist whose own fat ...

was the first writer to present ideas for reform and to belittle the Papacy in his plays. In 1522 he wrote two farces about the Pope, in which he showed the difference between the Pope and his priests, and

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. Real life events, in particular the

Battle of Novara (1513) The Battle of Novara (also known as the battle of Ariotta) was a battle of the War of the League of Cambrai fought on 6 June 1513, near Novara, in Northern Italy. A French attacking force was routed by allied Milanese–Swiss troops, the conseque ...

, created the backdrop for Manuel's writings. He wrote about Cardinal Anselm von Hochmuth (Haughtiness): "Mightily I have enjoyed it,/For Christian blood to me is dear,/And that's why a red hat I wear." In another Manuel play the Pope dismisses the plight of a Knight of Rhodes assisting in the war against the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

, and declares: "No bacon to the turnips for that war, it is better to make a war with

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

." Beginning in the mid-1520s there appear to have been incidents of sporadic violence in Bern during carnival which may have shown the tension of the Reformation period. Records show that the carnival was discontinued during the mid-to-latter half of the decade.Ehrstine, p. 118 In the 1530s the carnival continued, but the entertainment had a different emphasis than in the earlier decade. Records show that plays with a serious religious subject were put on as early as the 1530s in Bern, with Hans von Rüte's ''Abgötterie'' (1531) possibly being the first. Hans von Rüte wrote plays about

Biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

themes for the Bern carnival. In ''Gideon'' (1540) the Jews are depicted as losing to their enemies for seven devastating years because they adopted

idolatry Idolatry is the worship of a cult image or "idol" as though it were God. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the ...

and abandoned God.

Gideon Gideon (; ) also named Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth, was a military leader, judge and prophet whose calling and victory over the Midianites are recounted in of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. Gideon was the son of Joash, from the Abiez ...

eventually defeats all the enemies of the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele ...

, a recurring historical theme, but first he has to destroy the altar of

Ba'al Baal (), or Baal,; phn, , baʿl; hbo, , baʿal, ). ( ''baʿal'') was a title and honorific meaning "owner", "lord" in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied to ...

. Although the story, as told in von Rüte's play, was taken from the

Book of Judges The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdo ...

and was about Jews, Rüte (as before him Manuel) meant to attack the idolatry of Catholic clerics. Von Rüte's Gideon defeats

Zwinglian The theology of Ulrich Zwingli was based on an interpretation of the Bible, taking scripture as the inspired word of God and placing its authority higher than what he saw as human sources such as the ecumenical councils and the church fathers. He ...

authority by destroying the Ba'al altar.Ehrstine, p. 168 However, in contrast to the plays of the earlier decade, von Rüte's plays show a shift away from "protestant polemics" as he eventually uses the Bernese Bear as an allegorical figure. The tradition of Reformation era carnival theater (Fasnachtspiele) came to an end in the mid-1530s and Bernese record show that the genre came to an end by the late 1530s.Ehrstine, p. 134

The carnival today

Having been banned during the 16th century, Bern had no carnival for a long time. Instead, residents traveled to Basel or the Lucerne to enjoy carnival. In the 1970s the idea of bringing carnival back to Bern began to grow, and was first initiated with a children's carnival. In 1982 the era of the modern carnival began. Now, the Bernese Fasnacht is the third largest carnival in Switzerland although the carnivals in

Basel Basel ( , ), also known as Basle ( ),french: Bâle ; it, Basilea ; rm, label= Sutsilvan, Basileia; other rm, Basilea . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel is Switzerland's third-most-populous city (after Zürich a ...

and

have a longer or "more extravagant tradition". Carnival in Bern runs for three days in February.

Freeing the bear

According to a popular story, in 1917

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

, prior to the Revolution, passed by the

bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nort ...

in Bern, fed them carrots, and said: "The bears must be released." The carnival begins with a symbolic liberation of the bear (the participants, who are dressed as bears, wait to be liberated in the old town). Of course, the bear must first be captured. The capture takes place at 11:11 on November 11 (11/11) of the previous year. The bear spends exactly 111 days in Prison Tower for its winter sleep, before being awakened by "Ychüblete" (drumming) and released. In the 1980s, the original organizers of the modern carnival decided to use local history and to incorporate the famous bears of Bern into the modern carnival: thus they conceived of the idea of freeing the bears, thereby adding a modern idea based on the traditions of the city.

Gallery

File:Berner Fasnacht 2010 029.jpg, Participant in the Bernese Carnival 2010 File:Berner Fasnacht 2010 011.jpg, Participants in the Bernese Carnival 2010 File:Berner Fasnacht 2010 025.jpg, Participants in the Bernese Carnival 2010 File:Berner Fasnacht 2010 033.jpg, Participant in the Bernese Carnival 2010 File:Berner Fasnacht 2010 041.jpg, Participants in the Bernese Carnival 2010 File:Berner Fasnacht 2010 066.jpg, Participants in the Bernese Carnival 2010 File:Berner Fasnacht 2010 067.jpg, Participants in the Bernese Carnival 2010 File:Berner Fasnacht 2010 063.jpg, Participants in the Bernese Carnival 2010

References

External links

Website of the Berner Fasnacht

Bibliography

*{{cite book , title = Theater, culture, and community in Reformation Bern, author= Glenn Ehrstine, year = 2002, url = https://books.google.com/books?id=r-j3SgmP5NcC&q=carnival%2F&pg=RA1-PA90, isbn = 978-90-04-12353-3 Culture in Bern Carnivals in Switzerland