Fasnacht- which is the Swiss 'Carnival' celebration (pre-Lent), has been spread to many weeks so that the various towns wouldn't overlap (sort of like the St. Patty's Day Parade in the NY metro area). This past Sunday was the Fasnacht celebration in Liestal. In this town, they are famous for doing a 'Fire Parade' where people essentially carry bonfires on their back. Remember when I said (on New Years) that the Swiss were reserved? Nope- I guess they save it for other occasions. This was a crazy event and a lot of fun!
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| Matt getting ready for the parade... he doesn't even know what's in store yet. |
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| The parade started pretty normally with people in intricate costumes playing instruments |
Then came the fire... the crowd was really going crazy as we could see it in the distance.
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| The first rolling bonfire to come out was small |
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| Then a group of people came along carrying giant 'torches' on their backs. They weren't wearing anything special to protect themselves from the flames... |
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| This was the second bonfire |
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| The ground was littered with confetti maybe 1/2 inch deep (perhaps from an earlier parade)- sort of a fire hazard??? |
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| Each new bonfire would get a little bigger... |
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| This guy's head was smoking!! |
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| and a little bigger... |
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| Firemen & women were on hand to sponge down fire carriers who started catching fire |
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| Everyone was watching to see how big the next bonfire would be |
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| Matt & Corey&Me baring the flames... when they stopped the larger fires right in front of us it got RIDICULOUSLY hot. We were right in the front! |
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| This bonfire was getting up toward the street light... |
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| But this next one actually hit it! |
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| Every time we thought there couldn't possibly be a bigger one, there was. |
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