Street lights out, music on: The Basel carnival began on Monday with the morning prank at four in the morning. There are 11,000 active carnival participants alone.
At the stroke of four o’clock, the lights traditionally go out in Basel’s old town and carnival begins. With the command “morning strike, march forward!” the carnival cliques started marching. The masked musicians drummed and whistled, the bright sound of the piccolo flutes shrilled through all the streets. For Basel carnival enthusiasts, the Morgenstreich with its always the same ritual and the march, which is only played once a year, is a must and a “goosebumps moment”.
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Basel morning prank as a “goosebumps moment”
This is also ensured by the artistically designed lanterns with comic-like illustrations of the city’s events. These lantern floats pull the approximately 11,000 carnival participants behind them on Morgenstreich and display them on Basel’s Münsterplatz during the carnival days. The carnival in Basel is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is probably the shortest carnival there is. Because it lasts exactly 72 hours.
Carnival cliques with lanterns parade through the streets of Basel during the Morgestreich.
picture alliance/dpa/KEYSTONE | Georgios Kefalas
In 2002, the carnival accidentally lasted a minute longer
In 2002, however, the carnival in Basel was a minute longer than usual. Because the employee of the municipal utility, the “Industrielle Werke Basel”, who was responsible for turning off the lights during the morning prank, was a minute early.
With a flick of the wrist, the lights in Basel go out
Since 1986 there has been a central switch with which public lighting for the Basel Morgenstreich can be switched off anywhere. Ramón Tato is responsible for this at the “Industrielle Werken Basel”; he has personally pressed the switch several times: “We are happy when we can start the carnival in Basel-Stadt.” Before that he was a bit tense because everything had to go well, but it made him proud.
Morning Prank control room is secret
The location of the control room with the “Morgenstreich” switch is kept secret to prevent sabotage. The owners themselves are responsible for switching off private lighting, for example in shop windows, during the morning prank. If, contrary to tradition, the light in a shop window remains on, the shopkeeper becomes unpopular in Basel.
The Morgenstreich, like the entire Basel carnival, has long been a tourist magnet. Most visitors come from the three-country region, but people from Alsace and southern Baden also head to Basel to watch the morning prank.
Some people from South Baden last until the morning prank
Carnival enthusiasts from Weil am Rhein or Lörrach who are in good shape sometimes party the night away – and switch more or less seamlessly from the southern Baden “farmers’ carnival” to the Basel Morgenstreich.
SBB and SWEG offer special trips to Basel
SBB Germany offers special trains to the Basel Morgenstreich:
The train leaves Freiburg at 1:57 a.m. – with stops in Schallstadt, Bad Krozingen, Müllheim, Schliengen, Bad Bellingen, Rheinweiler, Kleinkems, Istein, Efringen-Kirchen, Eimeldingen and Haltingen. Arrival in Basel is at 3:05 a.m.
The special train from Zell im Wiesental starts there at half past two and stops at all stations on the Wiesental S-Bahn line S6. The special train from Zell can be used with the usual tickets. For the train from Freiburg, special tickets must be purchased from the conductor and paid for in cash during the journey.
SWEG uses special buses on its routes in which tickets can be purchased from the bus driver. The special bus in Kandertal leaves Kandern at 1:55 a.m. At 2 a.m. another bus starts in Welmlingen and goes to Basel via Eimeldingen and Weil am Rhein. Another bus leaves Ötlingen at 2:55 a.m. and then via Weil to downtown Basel.