Preparing for Lent

Over the weekend, in part to distract from news footage devoted to the strife and bloodshed in Libya, where brutal - and insane - dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi is proving his inhumanity and unfitness to be a leader daily, we were treated to reports about Carnival celebrations throughout Switzerland.  Tomorrow marks Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"), traditionally the end of Carnival celebrations around the world.   Things in Switzerland can get more complicated.

Yes, some Carnival celebrations, notably in Lucerne and Fribourg, occurred over the past weekend and will thus be complete before Ash Wednesday.  But elsewhere in Switzerland, including Basel, Bern and Zurich, Carnival's last gasp only occurs after Ash Wednesday.  We will thus be treated to more Carnival coverage over the next weekend.

Not that I'm complaining ... I love these colorful celebrations!

They don't celebrate Carnival in Geneva or in Vaud, where I live.  Carnival celebrations are a tradition in predominantly Catholic areas.  Since the Reformation in the 16th century, Geneva and Vaud have traditionally been predominantly Protestant.  That does not mean that sizable populations of other religions, including non-Christian religions, do not successfully and peacefully co-exist - despite deliberately provocative actions like voting against minarets, etc. - with whichever Christian faction is dominant; it merely means that certain regions of Switzerland have traditions that the others do not.

So far as I am concerned, vive la différence!