V.V..9

[Otto Sell]

----- Original Message -----
From: J Suete <jsuete at postmaster.co.uk>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2000 12:23 AM
Subject: V.V..9

Transmogrification:
    transmogrify (tràns-mòg´re-fì´, trànz-) verb, transitive, To change into
a
    different shape or form, especially one that is fantastic or bizarre.
(The
    American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition).

"Eternal" Fasching

 The Roman Catholic Shrovetide carnival as celebrated in German-speaking
countries. There are many regional
 differences concerning the name, duration, and activities of the carnival.
It is known as Fasching in Bavaria and
 Austria, Fosnat in Franconia, Fasnet in Swabia, Fastnacht in Mainz and its
environs, and Karneval in Cologne and
 the Rhineland. The beginning of the pre-Lenten season generally is
considered to be Epiphany (January 6), but in
 Cologne, where the festivities are the most elaborate, the official
beginning is marked on the 11th hour of the 11th
 day of the 11th month of the year. Merrymaking may get underway on the
Thursday before Lent, but the truly
 rambunctious revelry associated with Fasching usually reaches its high
point during the three days preceding Ash
 Wednesday, culminating on Shrove Tuesday. The names of these final days
also vary regionally.

 Although the exact historical origins of Fasching are unclear, the
observance of its rites is mentioned in Wolfram
 von Eschenbach's Parzival (early 13th century). It was a festival that
originated in the cities--most notably Mainz
 and Speyer--and was already established in Cologne by 1234. Traditionally,
it was not only a feast before Lent
 but also a time during which the rules and order of daily life were
subverted. This gave rise to such customs as
 handing over the keys of the city to a council of fools or ceremoniously
letting women rule. It also inspired noisy
 costumed parades and masked balls; satirical and often impertinent plays,
speeches, and newspaper columns; and
 generally excessive behaviour--all of which are still common elements of
contemporary Fasching celebrations.
 After the Reformation, Protestant areas of Europe took exception to such
Roman Catholic excesses, and carnival
 practices began to die out in them.
Jane

----------- schnipp -----------

Good Morning America,
What is really interesting in *Fasching* in the above text concerning the
novels in question apart from the exquisite historical information? It's the
word "subverted" - the upside down turn of . . . you'll guess what.
The word *Fasching* alone makes my protestant agnostic toenails curl, I was
forced to live three years in Catholic Bavarian Landsberg as a child!

Nowadays the "carneval" celebrated in the Northern parts of Germany where it
sometimes is called "Sockenball" (Socks' Ball) is just an occasion and
excuse
for heavy drinking and, if you're lucky (depends, of course), waking up the
next morning beside a total stranger . . . Good times for a cabbie of
course.

I guess this spreading of genes, here in medieval Roman Catholic Europe, is
the "real" reason behind all these "dionysian" rites. Changing sides for a
limited time after the Christian "Ramadan" as described above might have
helped preventing revolutions.

Otto
-------------------------
o.sell at telda.net
http://www.itap.de/homes/otto/index.html