Pancake Day

I've just struggled out through the snow to my local Backshop and was vaguely surprised to see it festooned - in a very lacklustre way - with colourful decorations. My mind being concerned with more important matters, such as whether I should need to get the husky sled out, I failed to make any connections regarding the significance, until I was asked whether I would like any Pfannkuchen to go with my Bonjour Baguette (my apologies to the entire French nation on this one, but it's Mrs. Penguin's favourite bread ever). "We've got a lot left! It's the eleventh of the eleventh, you know!".

Having survived the arduous treck back across the street battling off the local wildlife (Penguin: 1 - Polar Bears: 0, sorry Knut) I checked my calendar, and the lady in the shop was right. For the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the start of some regional ethnic German festival called "Fasching" or "Karneval", which appears to involve some foolery entailing silly hats and confectionery throwing. It's a seasonal festival which seems to have originated on the southern and western margins of this great nation and has been brought to the capital during the past few years by migrants from these regions, flocking to Berlin to seek their fame and fortune no doubt. Like Halloween (another festival which involves silly hats and confectionery) it was virtually unknown in the city until fairly recently, and it's nice to see another set of ethnic minorities (Swabians, Bavarians etc.) being integrated into Berlin's multikulti way of life.

A Pfannkuchen is - despite the literal translation - not a pancake, but a sort of doughnut - known outside of Berlin as a "Berliner", and first created 1963 to mark the visit of John F. Kennedy to West Berlin. Thanks to its presidential endorsment it became popular throughout the rest of the then West Germany and because of its association with "freedom" it has come to mark the beginning of the Narrensaison with all the Narrenfreiheit that entails.