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Community Corner

Fasnacht Frenzy

The story behind Tuesday's favorite doughnut.

Whether you call it Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras, Tuesday means one thing for many people living in areas with a surviving Pennsylvania Dutch tradition: fasnachts.

The vaguely squarish, fatty donut is a time-honored indulgence just before the self-imposed sacrifices of the Christian season of Lent, which begins Wednesday.  It is widely believed to have its origins in medieval times, when pantries were cleared of lard, sugar, and butter before Lent made the use of those decadent ingredients verboten for the next forty days.

Locally, the fasnacht flame is most famously being kept alive by the on Park Avenue in West Chester.

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As for the meaning of "fasnacht" itself, it depends who you ask.

The web site of the Dutch Oven Bakery in Limerick says that fasnacht translates as "chamfering night," a reference to the chamfered (or beveled) edge of the traditionally rectangular fasnacht donuts.

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Scholars disagree, both with the bakery's explanation and with each other. The most straightforward theory holds that "fasnacht" is a corruption of "fastnacht," or "the night before the fast (of Lent)."

Another explanation hearkens well back into the early Middle Ages, perhaps even before the areas of southwestern Germany that gave rise to fastnacht were exposed to Christianity.  According to this idea, the fas in fasnacht is from an ancient Germanic word that means "to play tricks" or "to spin yarns."

That might not make sense until you take a look at the traditional fastnacht celebrations from Germany, which date to at least the 12th century.  In those observances, local "fools guilds"―think of the Mummers, who may very well descend from a related and equally ancient tradition―would hold parades dressed in outlandish costumes (pictured) with wooden masks depicting clowns, hags, demons, or even the Grim Reaper.  As they marched down the street, making friendly jibes at their uncostumed neighbors, small children would be encouraged to pelt them with stones and other debris.  Scoring a hit would reward the thrower with a treat, perhaps even a fasnacht pastry.

Hey, that party sounds kind of familiar. A little bit like what they're having in New Orleans tonight.

Now you have something to think about while you sink your teeth into a donut that will make your bathroom scale break out in a cold sweat. Enjoy your fasnachts.

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