Abstract:
The thesis focusses on a detailed survey of the sociohistoric background and the development of local carnival traditions (fasching) of Neuhausen (and the Filder area), a rustic culture of festivities in a once Catholic enclave in Protestant Wurttemberg. Rustic Carnival traditions are related to aristocratic carnival structures at the ducal court of the city of Stuttgart and to those as performed in the free city of Esslingen. In addition, development and individual manifestations of rustic carnival traditions are shown as subject to influence from other European cultures, e.g. in Savoy, Piemont and the Tyrol. As modern culture continues to change, tendencies like professionalising, commercialising and turning traditions into very specular sportive events also also taken into account.