Life: Idiotropic

On the weekend of 9 and 10 September our little village of Gillrath celebrated it's 200th year of the Schutzenfete with a huge party. The Wednesday prior the trucks were out with crews putting up strings of green pennants across the roads and people began to put out their bicolored flags with just two thick stripes of color.

The little parking lot across from the obst and gemuse stand (fruit and veggies) was set up with a large building, carnival games, a little ride, and a beer stand. The temporary buildings here are quite substantial with nice wooden floors and sturdy walls. They don't look temporary, but they go up and come down with remarkable speed for any special event from concerts to retail sales.

On Friday morning Tante Tinny rang my doorbell to ask if she could decorate my plants with flowers. She'd already put pretty white and yellow crepe paper flowers in the two bushes in front of my house. The two colors of crepe paper are rolled together, tied with wire, then the ends are rolled down. They are really pretty. I asked her where I could buy some. She laughed. You can't. They make them. Next year I'll see if she'll teach me.

Friday night I noticed a lot of dressed up people heading towards the party tent. Tinny told us that they were people who were born in Gillrath, but have gone to other places. They were invited back to celebrate and, on that night, the town makes a dinner for them. They come from all over to attend. I love the cohesiveness of these towns. It's very heartwarming.

On Saturday evening after a BBQ with friends at the house, we walked down to the festival area to attend the big concert: Black Foose. Seeing Black Foose is like going to a Duran Duran concert now. The band is great, but they are OLD. One guitarist was horrifically thin with a short, snow white bob. The music is typical German carnival music - not quite the Oom Pa Pa music that is stereotypical, but it is almost like that - may be OomPaPa meets rock and roll. Everyone was there - every generation from older people in their 60's and beyond to young people probably only 10 - and they all talked and danced together into the next day.

We paid for tickets with which we could buy beer, wine, fanta, and other drinks. I think we were the only American's there, but we had a great time dancing and laughing. One song played had a tune from Dirty Dancing in it ("I Had The Time of My Life"). During that song a couple of the young girls were lifted up and carried around "surfing the crowd" just like Jennifer Grey did in the movie. At 11:30 when we left, the tent was still full of people dancing including our landlord's granddaughter who's only 14.

The next day we left which I think bothered Tante Tinny a bit. She really wanted us to be at her party. She baked 5 cakes and had about 20 people over to her house. Sunday was the day of the big parade - only this big every 10 years - with over 70 different groups marching in it. My American friends who saw it said that "it went on forever."