TITLE: Fasnet Teufel Mask
TYPE: hood mask
GENERAL REGION: Europe
COUNTRY: Germany
SUBREGION: Swabia
ETHNICITY: Swabian
DESCRIPTION: Teufel (Devil) Mask
CATALOG ID: EUDE006
MAKER: Uwe Thaler (Altensteig, 1964- )
CEREMONY: Fasnet (Carnival)
AGE: 2006
MAIN MATERIAL: cedar wood
OTHER MATERIALS: paint; lacquer; goat leather and fur; fox tail; LED lights and hardware
In many parts of Swabia and Bavaria, Carnival (usually called Fasnet or Fastnet in this region of Germany) is celebrated with parades of witches, devils, and clowns. The devil parades are organized by guilds, all members of which wear similar costumes and masks. Each town has its own guilds. Their purpose is to usher in the spring with joy and laughter and frighten away the winter.
This specific mask was used in Ehningen by the Würmdal-Deifels Guild from 2006 until 2012.
Regrettably, the best texts on Carnival in Bavaria and Swabia are still available in German only: Heinz Wintermantel’s Hoorig, hoorig isch die Katz (Würzburg: Konrad Theiss, 1978) and Dick Eckert’s Die Werdenfelser Fasnacht und ihre Larven (Volk Verlag München, 2015).
