Twissted Swisster

Crowd Cringes in Pain From The Searing Heat

I need to do a follow up on the early post about the crazy fire parade I went too, because it was just so strange. I haven’t had time to go through all of the 5 gigs of photos yet, but as I am going through them I am finding more and more. I like the one above that focuses on one of the mobile 6 foot high (2 M) mobile bon fires on a cart. In the background you can see one of the Firefighters, in protective gear turning his back on the fire because it is so hot.

Just imagine for a second how hot this must be if the firefighter is turning his back in all that protective gear and that sad guy next to him is just standing there in a nylon ski jacket. If you look into the crowd all you see is backs of head, because if you face these carts of fire your face starts to burn. It is just absolutely crazy.

Although it isn’t clear in the picture the crowd is probably less than 6 feet from the flames.

One of the other traditions is something that looks like a huge burning broom. It is essentially a pile of logs strapped to a stick. The guys will lift these flaming torches and carry them over their shoulder like a hobo sack. All the while, burning embers and pieces of wood falling on their heads. Many of the men will cover there heads in wet towels or wet hats. Another popular accessory was a metal colander worn upside down on the head as a helmet.

Did I forget to mention that the entire street is also covered in about an eighth of an inch (.5 cm) of paper confetti? It was just amazing to me that the entire town didn’t just burst into flames.

This evening we went out to a small town towards Basel to check out something that I would have to consider as one of the most unsafe public spectacles I have ever witnessed.

This Fasnacht (Carnival) parade was a one hour show of men and women dragging various flaming objects through the street.

On the website there are warnings to wear old clothes in case you get burned and no children under 6 or dogs are allowed.

Some of the portable bon fires are so intense that the crowd has to turn their back or risk being burned. I have some amazing photographs and this is just one so there will surely be more to come.