Hello to the Flesh

In the Roman Catholic bastions of Bavaria, the riotous midwinter weeks of Fasching (from the German phrase "to pour from a barrel") serve roughly the same functions as carnival elsewhere in the Christian world. It is a season of merrymaking, mischiefing and fair-maidening begun by medieval Catholics who wanted to say a hearty "farewell to the flesh" (carne vale) before starting the Lenten regimen of fasting and penance on Ash Wednesday. In Munich, the capital of Fasching, the farewell involves a series of masquerades, formal balls and street parades, which lead to, among other effects, an increase in illegitimate births every autumn. Fasching also breeds business. Hotels are sold out; consumption of champagne, caviar and Munich's famous Weisswurst triples. Following a record season in 1977, Munich promoters looked forward to an even better one this year --until they consulted the calendar.

Ash Wednesday is a movable fast, and in 1978 it arrives early, on Feb. 8. So Muenchner decided to extend the saturnalia into Lent. Churchmen were outraged. The office of the Archbishop of Munich protested that while the church appreciated "the joy of living" expressed in Fasching, it considered the prolongation "totally objectionable." Fumed one priest: "Ash Wednesday is a religious symbol that needs to be preserved even if it hurts business." So much for symbolism. Munich's Fasching organizers canceled masquerades after Ash Wednesday. But other balls and celebrations will go on until March 5, just three weeks before Easter.

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