[S2E10] Fasching Festivities: Austria's Fifth Season

Bite into a pink, rum-soaked pastry with us as we unwrap the rich traditions of Fasching - Austria's beloved "fifth season." When Mr. Giggles takes his first taste of Punschkrapfen (gifted by Dr. Schnitzel), he's surprised to discover these innocent-looking cube-shaped treats contain alcohol, launching us into a fascinating cultural exploration. Don't worry, they're still sober. 

We dive deep into Fasching, Austria's equivalent of Carnival or Mardi Gras, which kicks off precisely at 11:11 AM on November 11th and continues until Ash Wednesday. But why such specific timing? 

Discover how this centuries-old tradition flourished in Roman Catholic countries as a counterbalance to the strict observances of Lent.  
Unlike Halloween's spooky themes, the joyful Fasching "rebellion" celebrates fun and frivolity, culminating in elaborate costume parties, especially for schoolchildren. While this tradition predates and differs from American-style Halloween celebrations, both holidays satisfy our universal human desire to temporarily step outside ourselves and embrace festivity. 

Join us for this culturally rich conversation that explains why millions of Austrians consider these winter months the perfect time for pink pastries, elaborate costumes, and temporarily turning social norms upside down. 

Still, one question remains: Is a "Krapfen" more than just a jelly donut?

Transcript

The Name's Krapfen. Punschkrapfen.

Mr. Giggles 0:37

Well, guten hallo and welcome back to the Schnitz and Giggles podcast. I'm Michael and I'm Lucas. Hi Lucas, Hi, how are you doing?

Dr. Schnitzel 0:45

bud, I'm good, cool, cool.

Mr. Giggles 0:49

All right. Well, I'm excited to be back talking with you.

Dr. Schnitzel 0:52

I feel we had that conversation before, but still, here we are here we are.

Mr. Giggles 0:55

What do you got going on?

Dr. Schnitzel 0:57

Well, uh so well, um, what do you? Let me unwrap something for you. Why are you unwrapping a snack? Because I bought something for us, for you, especially today. Okay, and our listeners will not see it, but you can read the label. It says punch krapfen punch krapfen. Yes, doesn't look like any krapfen I've seen yeah, because how would you describe like a regular krapfen for our ones that you?

Mr. Giggles 1:35

know, for our american listeners it's a jelly donut. Basically it's a big donut with stuff inside of it.

Dr. Schnitzel 1:47

A hole-less donut yeah.

Mr. Giggles 1:48

I let that count.

Dr. Schnitzel 1:49

I let that count Well the Austen's proverb would say well, this is not a donut. A donut is something completely different. Although it's very close to it, Hold on.

Mr. Giggles 1:59

Don't. Okay, no, come on Try me Lucas, have you ever seen a donut?

Dr. Schnitzel 2:02

Yes.

Mr. Giggles 2:03

Have you seen a Krapfen? Yes, have you seen a jelly-filled donut? I've seen that too. Have you seen a Krapfen?

Dr. Schnitzel 2:09

Yes.

Mr. Giggles 2:09

Yes, because they're the same thing, not really.

Dr. Schnitzel 2:12

Wow, starting off with controversy. It's like if you say the Germans and the Austrians.

Mr. Giggles 2:17

We did have that episode recently but, Okay, don't do it.

Dr. Schnitzel 2:22

This isn't a Kropfen episode, but the one thing I'm showing you right now.

Mr. Giggles 2:27

So what I see here? So I've described a Kropfen as a jelly-filled donut a big round thing. What Lucas is holding in his hand are what look to be square cakes, Right Covered with pink frosting with a little chocolate drizzle on top. The chocolate is optional.

Dr. Schnitzel 2:47

Okay. But, yes, pink and rectangle or cube-shaped.

Mr. Giggles 2:52

Cube-shaped. That's the word I was looking for.

Dr. Schnitzel 2:53

That's the word you're looking for, yeah, always here to help my American friend. Thank you With your English, yeah, assuming that a krapfen is basically a donut, correct? Let's agree for a moment on this. I'd like you to try one, because you said you didn't have one before. I have not had one of these. Okay, so take one and take a bite.

Mr. Giggles 3:12

Oh, this is going to be great podcast material. Yes, everybody loves chewing sounds.

Dr. Schnitzel 3:17

So I'm going to describe here. Now Michael has taken that cube out of the wrapping and he's holding it, looking at it suspiciously, smelling it now, and now it takes. He's about to take a bite and he's opening his mouth and, yes, he had his first bite of a punch Krapfen. So compared to your previous Krapfen experiences. So what are you going to say?

Mr. Giggles 3:43

about that Hot take here, not a huge Kapfen fan.

Dr. Schnitzel 3:47

Kapfen or Kapfen Kapfen Okay.

Mr. Giggles 3:50

I don't like jelly-filled donuts. Okay, yeah, fair. So not my preference, not a value judgment, just I don't like it. This is a very different experience. It sure is to start with, seems to be a firm marmalade of sorts yeah, this has no jelly really in it.

Dr. Schnitzel 4:07

No, no, it's not.

Mr. Giggles 4:08

It's not liquidy, it's not like no a little cake, a little bit of chew to it. Yeah, keep on chewing still working.

Dr. Schnitzel 4:14

You're just working on your first bite still yeah, that's delightful it is.

Mr. Giggles 4:18

Yeah, it's real nice.

Dr. Schnitzel 4:19

But one thing I know that you know is when you order punch, you might mistake it, Like an English speaker might think okay, well, I'm drinking some punch. But punch and punch are not necessarily the same thing.

Krazy Krapfen Konfusion

Mr. Giggles 4:30

Hold up. Okay, I'm holding. So when I'm getting a punch at the Christmas market, what am?

Dr. Schnitzel 4:37

I getting? I mean, I think the most important thing that you have to know you're getting alcohol. What am I getting? I mean, I think the most important thing that you have to know you're getting alcohol and it's usually has a berry type flavor to it. So hot and it's hot, it's hot. Yes, it's a hot drink fruity alcoholic hot beverage. It's usually sold around christmas time because hot beverages sell better in the cold time of the year for those listening along.

Mr. Giggles 4:55

At home, I took a bite of cake. Right was not hot nope, however, not sure, I guess maybe there's a little taste of some alcohol in there.

Dr. Schnitzel 5:03

Yeah, However, you actually consumed some alcohol now. Oh no, Stop this episode. Oh boy, oh boy. Is that allowed? But? To calm you down the amount of alcohol is so small that even if you had like tons of Punschkampf from you probably get sick.

Mr. Giggles 5:22

But not because of the alcohol. You're throwing up for sure. Yes, but you're throwing up for sure, but for different reasons.

Dr. Schnitzel 5:26

You could never, you could never get drunk on this. Uh, kind of, it's just the way to make the dough. They soak some of those parts in.

Mr. Giggles 5:33

I would say especially that middle. I think it's rum. That middle part probably has a little bit of?

Dr. Schnitzel 5:37

yeah, I think the middle part. I'm notschkrapfen so I don't know how they're being made. Why are we doing this? Let's scrap this whole episode. Let's get an expert in here. Yeah, like, where's a Punsch expert? An expert with a little bit of a punch? Yeah, yep.

Mr. Giggles 5:52

Okay, so I've never had these before. Why haven't I had them before? Actually, let me reword that question.

Dr. Schnitzel 5:58

Yes, because I don't think that was even a good question Seems like a hard one to answer.

Mr. Giggles 6:04

When would I have had occasion to have a pundiklap?

Dr. Schnitzel 6:07

I mean the occasion. It's also usually probably more popular during the cold season of the year. However, you can actually buy those all year long, so you you pick these up while we were shopping together in the grocery store, yeah oh, just does that ruin the magic? I don't know, but um, you told us secrets we hung out together before, just before you recorded, we bought these.

Mr. Giggles 6:30

I don't think I've ever probably made note of these before. I'm sure I've seen them, but since I've never had one, I never thought, oh, I should, I should buy a package. But if they're available all year round, yeah then I've really I one. I never thought oh, I should. I should buy a package but if they're available all year round yeah then I've really I mean they're easy to spot.

Dr. Schnitzel 6:46

Why? Because they're pink they are like it's. It's pastry is pink there's. There's actually no other pink pastry that I in austria that I know of, so if you see something pink, so watch out. This probably is the punch cup from, and it has small amounts of alcohol in it, but it's really more for the taste and not, like I said just before, you can't get drunk on it, but you can actually if you know the place Aida, for example.

Mr. Giggles 7:11

Everything's got to be pink there. All the cakes are pink.

Dr. Schnitzel 7:15

Well, the whole store is pink.

Mr. Giggles 7:17

Right.

Dr. Schnitzel 7:18

Like, the clothes the employees are wearing are pink.

Mr. Giggles 7:22

The employees are pink. Well, I guess you know, like the apron I'm talking about, like that, what they're wearing.

Dr. Schnitzel 7:27

What they're wearing. I just said what they're wearing, not the people are pink.

Mr. Giggles 7:30

You said the employees are pink.

Dr. Schnitzel 7:32

Are you racist?

Mr. Giggles 7:34

Just responding to what you said.

Dr. Schnitzel 7:35

You have a problem with pink people. I was like, is that Sometimes? I was like, is that Sometimes there's a pink party in Austria, like you know, their color is pink, but no Political party.

Mr. Giggles 7:47

Not. I mean, there might be a regular party too. Happens every Saturday night. All right, no more parties, no more black humor here.

Dr. Schnitzel 7:57

So when would I eat Punschkrapfen?

Mr. Giggles 7:58

Well, just now Tell me.

Dr. Schnitzel 8:01

Any time really, really works. But when we talk about krapfen in general and I'm referring now to the regional idea of that you described as some donut like we'll just go with like it's. It's filled with uh apricot jam usually yeah and has some, some sugar on top. That is kind of the symbol of fasasching season Fasching, fasching. Have you heard of Fasching before?

Mr. Giggles 8:24

Well, I certainly have, you certainly have, but but some of our listeners at home may not have heard of this. What is Fasching?

Party Hard Before Repenting

Dr. Schnitzel 8:31

So Fasching is considered to be the fifth season of the year in Austria, parts of Germany and other countries, so winter spring, summer fasching, yeah well fasching season begins on november 11th at 11 11 o'clock, so november being the 11th month yeah, yes, and it usually goes until february or sometimes into early march, which, of course, is a lot of questions.

Dr. Schnitzel 8:57

It's kind of the winter season or early spring season maybe, so that's when Fasching is. You might know the whole idea, but under a different name, which is Carnival, carnival, yeah, carnival. In Austria it's called Fasching, and in other places it's called even parts of other parts of Austria. It's called maybe Fastnacht, and there's a German word, carnival, that's it.

Mr. Giggles 9:32

That's it okay.

Dr. Schnitzel 9:33

Well, uh, thanks for listening to our podcast everybody okay, and that's when you eat crap from the most and that's when most crap from us sold for the year at the beginning or during, and especially towards the end of it. Basically, you just try to eat up all the leftovers.

Mr. Giggles 9:46

Well sure you can't have leftover crap in there.

Dr. Schnitzel 9:49

Ridiculous that is really the main reason to having Fasching, because the original word is coming from, like I just said, fastnacht. Fasten is to fast. So the season of Lent, which is beginning just basically 40 days before easter comes around, that is when fashing ends. So the idea of fashing is really, or carnival is really, the time that's leading up to lent.

Dr. Schnitzel 10:13

The motto is you party hard from november to february and then you, you quit and you give everything you give everything up and you're just have a like a very simple life for 40 days and then easter comes around and then you kind of move uh on. But as days are warmer usually those, those krapfen they're not as popular, because it's either heavy, yeah, like so you. You really enjoy them more when, when the weather is colder yeah, krapfen with a cup of coffee that's quite popular so november 11th that's a pretty important day in the history of europe.

Mr. Giggles 10:48

At 11 o'clock, 11th month, 11th hour yes, I'm trying to wrap my head around. Did fasching start celebrating at that time after world war the end of world war one, or was that a time that was always the start of faschingching? I mean, I remember from my like 10th grade history class talking about the importance of that, but I just have never known that it was associated with Fasching or Carnival.

Dr. Schnitzel 11:15

The spirit of Fasching really is that basic rules in society are being undone or put upside down yeah this idea has been is very ancient that at some point, for comedic purposes or just for fun, the slave plays the role of the of the owner, and the owner kind of is like the slave, or, you know, the, the mighty and the kings and queens there are pretending to be not, or the women take over the jobs that the men usually do. Stuff like that is has been happening for ages and ages.

Mr. Giggles 11:49

So we're talking about back in the roman empire or dating back further I guess, like before the end of world war one did fasching start at 11 o'clock on november 11th, I guess, is the core of my question here. Is that something that has been a modern adoption that, like blended the celebration of the end of world war one and foshing?

Dr. Schnitzel 12:13

to answer your question about world war one specifically and directly. It has nothing to do with world war one, although I think the idea that the truce or like the end of World War I, 1918, happened on the same day was probably inspired by the fact that November 11th is the beginning of party season.

Mr. Giggles 12:34

So let's give them something to party with.

The Spirit of Fasching and Traditions

Dr. Schnitzel 12:36

The motto is like make party, not war, if that is a good kind of cultural translation. The one thing I've heard is that number 11 is kind of a fool's number. Probably has to do with 12 being, you know, like a more complete number, and you know, sometimes number 13 is also considered like an unlucky or bad luck number. It's an odd number and it's probably like, if you take it into a church or Christian context, there's the 10 commandments and there's the 12 disciples, or like. 12 is a very important number in the Bible. It just isn't anything for 11. And there's 12 months in a year, and so 10 is good, 12 is good, but 11 is sort of weird 11 is got no importance.

Dr. Schnitzel 13:20

That's why some people believe that it's just the best number to pick. If you feel like you want to fool around, yeah, and probably the the symmetry of it all like one one, one, one one is is sort of also a special time fun. So the the fashing is kind of interrupted by christmas season. It kind of takes a time out. But what some people also might find interesting is that Fasching season is sort of equal to the ball season, yeah.

Dr. Schnitzel 13:50

All the dances and balls. They happen during Fasching season. So once Lent comes around, usually tradition is kind of demanding. I mean, there might be some now these days, but tradition demands you don't have any festivities, no more balls and dances. And the main reason, of course, is November through February is the coldest part of the year and if you wanted to do any activities they better be indoor activities. So all the dances and balls have been sort of crammed into that time of the year. Also, it's the time where you just let loose and let go of everything and that kind of is the spirit of fushing. As I just said earlier, anything goes, anything goes. And if you think of carnival, maybe you've heard of the carnival like in venice in sure, it's very famous to wear masks and they wear those masks. Yeah well, the idea why they're wearing those masks is because they were doing all kinds of stuff they don't want people they don't want people to know that who's behind the mask, funny business.

Dr. Schnitzel 14:47

So you basically had an excuse for everything. And fashioning or carnival is actually celebrated in countries that have been traditionally roman catholic countries. Like I said, italy has carnival, austria has it, some parts of germany that were catholic and there's carnival in brazil, as you know. The rio de janeiro carnival is, like, very famous and it's all about new orleans. Yeah, it's all about breaking out of the, the routine and and all those rules that kind of maybe drag you down in your day-to-day life and you kind of want to get rid of that, and then, when lent comes around, you actually actually repent. The idea, like how it's been practiced in Austria, is really you go crazy, you commit all kinds of sins and then for 40 days you repent, repent, repent and hope for some.

Dr. Schnitzel 15:36

And you hope for some forgiveness, and because the church played such a major part in this tradition.

Mr. Giggles 15:42

this is why it's basically only celebrated in those countries that have roman catholic history yeah, even though it's not a traditional church season or church holiday, it only really exists, in contrast to the church traditions yes, and it was some was some kind of way of venting yeah.

Dr. Schnitzel 16:02

Yeah, since we know from church history. You know, I know that.

Mr. Giggles 16:08

Our listeners are smart people.

Dr. Schnitzel 16:10

They usually also you'll know that too Well, that's the church. The church had the reputation of being very strict, yeah, concerning life rules and concerning Rules and behavior, behavior Standards, of practice are all very important things, exactly. So at some point, in order to kind of keep the mood of the people kind of balanced, they sort of permitted some of these things, they tolerated it.

Mr. Giggles 16:35

They didn't really, of course, uh, encourage it but seems like people would take uh lent far more seriously because of the nonsense that they were up to.

Dr. Schnitzel 16:46

Exactly I mean so imagine you doing like all kinds of weird and stupid stuff for four months straight, perhaps except christmas, and then you're like oh, oh, I'm. What did I do wrong here and now it's time to refocus. That's the focus.

Dr. Schnitzel 17:00

So that that is kind of the, the idea of fushing interesting and something that I kind of even forgot to mention, although it's the most obvious thing if you live in austria or any carnival slash, fushing celebrating countries. People dress up in costumes. That's kind of the most fun part, especially for kids. At the very beginning, at the very end, very end. Yes, so what comes around soon enough is fashing's dienstag. Okay, so tuesday is the day before asha mitwoch, which is ash wednesday, yeah, and that's kind of the the first day of repenting and first day of lent. So tuesday is sort of the final, the grand finale of fashing season, and that's also usually when you have most of those costume parties, especially when talking about kids and schools. So in austrian schools, either that day or or some of the teachers, of course, they have to pick another day for several reasons.

Mr. Giggles 17:56

Everyone comes to school being dressed in costumes I remember dressing Kaylin up in her snow white princess outfit in the middle of spring.

Dr. Schnitzel 18:11

No idea why you just follow along.

Mr. Giggles 18:14

The school said, hey, it's.

Dr. Schnitzel 18:15

Fasching.

Mr. Giggles 18:17

Wear a costume. And we said okay, I'm here, I'm from.

Dr. Schnitzel 18:20

California. I'm just going to embrace the culture. We didn't do much research into why we were doing this. Just go with it.

Mr. Giggles 18:25

Just you know, kaylin wanted to wear her costume.

Dr. Schnitzel 18:27

Right, so she did Right, and that's really the main main dress-up season for austrians in comparison to halloween. Yeah, and halloween has a completely different backgrounds and fashion is really about like being joyful, being happy, being crazy. Yeah, and halloween has more like a even like a darker spiritual background and you know, it's all about being more like scary yeah and during fashion, you can basically dress up as anything.

Dr. Schnitzel 18:52

You can be a vampire during fushing as well, if you want to. But if you want to be a knight, a cowboy, a princess or all three, all three at once, when I princess, vampire, princess, cowboy, go for it.

Static Beginnings, Flexible Endings

Dr. Schnitzel 19:04

That's, that's the the message of fushing, and so the tradition of halloween is very young in austria, europe. Yeah, we didn't really celebrate that as much, also for the reason, like some people say well, we already have fashion, why don't we need another? Like costume, why don't we? Need a dress celebrate a festival in in the. It's a good, great point yeah, although halloween has become more and more important and more popular throughout the years here, I'd say in the.

Mr. Giggles 19:27

In the 15 years we've been around here it has increased in prominence in activity, right yeah.

Dr. Schnitzel 19:34

It's probably it's going to stay for some time.

Mr. Giggles 19:36

A lot more things in the stores, it seems, cause usually you have a hard time.

Dr. Schnitzel 19:40

Costumes are available earlier than yeah, you'd have a hard time finding costumes in October, right?

Mr. Giggles 19:44

Some years ago, months before, but now it's Fushing?

Dr. Schnitzel 19:47

Yeah, well, maybe, but, as I just said, nobody dresses up in November, except you go to a ball and you kind of. I mean that's more fancy clothes, but not unless it's like a themed ball. But you know, that is very specific. Well, one thing I forgot to mention is that the end of Fasching always moves around, like in the calendar, like the day is never the same. It's always a Tuesday, sure, but never the same. It's always a tuesday, sure, but well it's dependent on when, when, easter when lent depends on easter and easter depends actually on.

Dr. Schnitzel 20:22

It's usually the first full moon of well, the spring year, because that actually goes back to the passover festival of the jewish tradition. It's like all connected yeah and that's the easter tradition. So when easter place, that determines when Lent, like you can count back 40 days and then you count back to that Tuesday which ends the season. So it always starts on the same day, like on November 11th. Yeah but it could.

Dr. Schnitzel 20:48

But it could go like for that many months or weeks yeah and sometimes Easter will shift by a couple weeks, and usually it's sometime in February, but this year like in 2025, it's actually in the first week of March, I think.

Comprehending Cultural Similarities

Mr. Giggles 21:04

Ah, so, it was the first week of March, Just you know, knowing about, probably when this is going to be released.

Dr. Schnitzel 21:16

Yeah, in, in 2025 it was, it was. Why is that so fun to you? Because because we don't know when we record this and when we're going to release this well, we know when we record it.

Mr. Giggles 21:26

We don't know when we're going to release it and it's probably not going to be the first of March it's actually next week.

Dr. Schnitzel 21:31

I know in march, it's actually next week, I mean, I know like I'm just, although this was a short episode, this is the last, although now we've added four different uh cut-ins that you have to. Yeah, figure out where to put those I think I'm gonna delete all so I forgot to mention that washington's trickenstück is Fat Tuesday in other regions as, like you said, New Orleans and Mardi Gras, it's the same idea same day.

Mr. Giggles 22:00

Yeah, the concept that it all starts in November and then ends right before Lent. I don't think I've ever really comprehended that Like. For me it's always just been oh yeah, that's something that happens right before Lent. It's always just been oh yeah, that's something that happens right before lent. So the association with lent is obviously pretty clear. But it's like that's the thing that within these regions that have the catholic faith tradition, they're going to do this right before lent. Yeah, flashing yeah all right good, hey, we've had some punch crap talked about flashing.

Dr. Schnitzel 22:33

Cool. I think I'm going to take a bite of my punchschkrapfen too. All right, yeah, because I haven't had one in a long, long time.

Mr. Giggles 22:39

We're just sitting there waiting for you, Probably yeah.

Dr. Schnitzel 22:41

Maybe I'll give it up for Lent, but not now I think I might, yeah, I might. Are you going to have this one?

Mr. Giggles 22:53

two bites so far yeah, I'm not a big cake guy, so, like, when it comes to eating small bites of cake, I might be able to get through it, but it was quite delicious well, so go out and try it for yourself everybody yeah, I appreciate that you were willing to try this, even though I set you up and made you consume alcohol yeah, during the day sneaky fellow.

Dr. Schnitzel 23:12

I'm so sorry.

Mr. Giggles 23:12

I hope you forgive me all right well, with that, good bye-bye good bye-bye.