The CBB :: View topic - Carnival at the Chalet School

#1: Carnival at the Chalet School Author: Lottie, Location: Humphrey's Corner

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 4:23 pm

Chalet School,
Gornetz Platz.
Switzerland.

Saturday 5th March, 1960

Dear Len, Con and Margot,

I know you are in Edinburgh, Margot, but I am asking Len or Con to send this on to you from Oxford, please, because there is not enough time at school to write it all twice. It was half-term last weekend, and we had been looking forward to it for ages; it was a good long one, from Friday morning till Tuesday evening, because Easter will be late this year. Mamma and Auntie Phoebe had said that Lucy and I could go on our form trip to Locarno; we were really looking forward to it since neither of us had yet had the chance to visit it.

On the Sunday before last I was at home for English tea with Mamma, Papa and the babies, when Papa was called in to the San for an urgent meeting. He did not return before I went back to school, but I saw him again on Monday morning. When we went into Hall after prayers he was there on the dais with Auntie Hilda, and they both looked very serious. We did not wait long to find out what was wrong. Apparently there have been a number of cases of diphtheria in several of the towns in the valley, so all the trips had been cancelled and we had to stay at school. First, of course, Matey and Nurse had us into school san and vaccinated everybody as a precaution. Nobody really liked it, but at least we missed our maths lesson for it. In between grumbling about our sore arms we wondered what we were going to do for the weekend – it looked as though it would turn out to be really boring instead of having the excitement of visiting a new place.

It was not until Thursday afternoon that we were told what was going to happen. After Mittagessen Auntie Hilda said that prep would be cancelled, instead we were all to go to Hall after Kaffee und Kuchen. Just after Cecil’s form had settled themselves on their cushions at the front, Auntie Hilda came in and sat down in her chair on the dais. She smiled at us and asked if anyone knew what was special about Tuesday. One of the juniors said it was the end of half-term. Auntie Hilda asked what else it was special for. No-one could think of anything. Then she asked if we knew what day Wednesday was, that was easy of course – we all knew that it was Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Then Auntie Hilda explained about some of the customs that have grown up throughout Europe to celebrate Shrove Tuesday as it is know in English, the French call it Mardi Gras and the Germans Fastnacht or Fasching or Karneval. At the end she told us that, since we could not go away for half-term, we would have our own carnival at school.

On Friday morning word was sent round all the dormies before Fruhstuck that we would be going out for skiing and tobogganing that morning. After Mittagessen and rest we all had to start preparing our costumes for the carnival procession. Although we couldn’t have actual floats each form was to have a theme, and there would be prizes for the best. There were plentiful supplies of crepe paper and cellophane, and we could ask for costumes from the acting cupboard too. After some discussion Lucy and I persuaded IIIB to dress up as characters from the Nutcracker ballet. In the evening the staff gave us a performance of a traditional mumming play – they must have worked really hard to learn their lines and make costumes and everything in less than a week.

Saturday was fine again, so we were able to have winter sports in the morning. In the afternoon we had to prepare masks, from paper and card, for the masked ball in the evening. With our faces completely covered and wearing our usual velveteens it was really difficult to recognise people. The staff had prepared a programme of country dances which made us change partners every time. They were either progressive circles, or we had to take our contrary from a longways set as our new partner. We started straight after Kaffee, and by the time we had an interval for Abendessen we were very well mixed up. We took our dance partners into the Speisesaal instead of sitting in our usual places, so each table had a mixture of seniors, middles and juniors, with prefects and staff scattered all over the room. We had to take our masks off to eat, of course, and great was the surprise on some people’s faces as she saw who her partner was.

Sunday was the usual quiet day. We all went to chapel in the morning, of course. The prefects had arranged a series of pencil and paper games for the afternoon, and we had community hymn singing in the evening. Monday (Rosenmontag) was still fine so we spent the morning outside again. In the afternoon we skied to the San where we dressed up in our carnival costumes for a parade around all the wards where the patients were well enough to watch us. When we returned to school we donned our fancy dress again for a parade around school finishing in Hall. Then we went onto the dais one form at a time, so that the judges, who were Uncle Frank, Auntie Nell and Mamma, could have a proper look at everybody. The juniors had all dressed as nursery rhyme characters and there was much laughter when Auntie Nell asked Cecil if she was Little Bo-Peep, Cecil replied that she was not because she had her sheep (Phil’s toy lamb) and that she was Mary, who had a little lamb.

On Shrove Tuesday we woke up and the snowflakes were whirling round like nobody’s business, so we realised that there would be no going out that day. After breakfast and bed-making we had to go to our form-rooms – each form was to prepare an entertainment to take place between Kaffee and bedtime, with an interval for Abendessen. They were to be ten to fifteen minutes long and based on any aspect of the carnival period. We just had the morning to prepare because there were to be pancake races in the Gym in the afternoon. The races were run in heats, of course. It is really difficult to run and toss a pancake at the same time, and if you did not toss it enough times while running you had to stand on the finishing line and toss it twice as many times before you were actually finished. Just to make it even more challenging the finals for the seniors and middles included obstacles like climbing over boxes and wriggling under beams and through hoops without dropping your pancake. Eventually Jack Lambert won the seniors, Auntie Frieda’s Carlotta won the middles and Daphne Bettany won the juniors. Then there was a grand final with the first three from each section – it was handicapped to make it fairer and Cecil won, with Ailie a very close second.

At Kaffee we had the usual milky coffee, but instead of fancy twists and cakes we had Fasnachts – a kind of diamond shaped doughnut eaten in Germany and some parts of the United States – they were very rich and you would not want to eat too many or have them too often, but they were nice for a change. After that we all filed into Hall for the entertainments. There was a real mixture of things. IIIB had elected to perform the story of the arrival of the Magi to reflect the fact that the carnival seasons starts on Epiphany in Bavaria and Austria. Inter V made use of Sam Davies’ flute, and some home made drums to be a marching band; we all had to march with them, and, at a word from Auntie Hilda, they led us into the Speisesaal for one of Karen’s special feasts, including pancakes to eat with sugar and lemon as they do in Britain.

Then we went back to Hall for the rest of the entertainments. VIA chose to read war poetry from all the European countries which were involved in the First World War, because the traditional start of the carnival in the Rhineland is the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, which is just when the conflict ended. After that it was time for prayers, and, for once, Auntie Hilda said we would stay together because we were all Christians and there were more similarities than differences in our beliefs. There would be early morning mass at Our Lady of the Snows as well as Holy Communion in St. Mary’s on Ash Wednesday for everyone who wished to attend.

Altogether it was one of the best half-terms that I can remember, but Lucy and I still have not been to see Locarno.

Your loving sister,
Felicity

#2: Author: Lisa, Location: South Coast of England

Posted: Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:52 pm

Aw, what a lovely letter between sisters Very Happy

Thanks Lottie (Lottie is my nickname, by the way!) this is so evocative of the vibrant life of the chalet school, and I can imagine the Trips feeling a tad wistful and nostalgic after reading it. I know I do ... ! Very Happy

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