Weiberfastnacht , Womens Day During Fastnacht

So you have heard of "Fat Tuesday but how about "Fat Thursday" ? Womens Liberation Fun Day for Fastnacht Season My friend told me about the event called Weiberfastnacht a tradition in the Rhineland part of Germany where she lives. This is an old picture from early last century rinsing the clothes in the " Riesbrunnen" that ran through the town. This is where my grandma as a kid went as this was one of her chores. Read more about Weiberfastnacht here The Thursday before lent the Rhineland part of Germany is called Weiberfastnact Weiber = woman Fastnacht = the festival before lent. What happened , known as the Washer women were working long hard all day long to wash clothes for the men that would go to the Fasching parties. According to the story they got fed up, ditched their washing stations and went to the pub. They plotted a protest and went to the “Rathaus” (city hall) and protested. From then on the women were allowed to participate in these parties and this became their special day. They did all kinds of fun things, they were allowed to order men around , and if you wore a neck tie they would cut it off with scissors. a Washer woman in Steinsfurt, before washing machines. ` Storming the Rathaus Video in Beuel, Rhineland, Germnay during the Weiberfastnacht celebration ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dagmar  also said that on Friday the children from the elementary schools go to old folks homes and sing the songs and shout Alaaf and Helau . What do these shouts mean? Long history Read more here

These were some of the rebels that formed the Damekomitte and started the first Fat Thursday (Weiberfastnacht) about 1825 Read more about Weiberfastnacht Here Here is what how they dress for Fat Thursday now 100 years later.