Germanic japes

The Mayor, Councillor Eric Mardell, his wife Elizabeth, and members of Worthing Twinning Association presented an embroidered wall-hanging featuring Worthing landmarks to their opposite numbers.

Elztal is in the beautiful Black Forest area of Germany and, along with Les Sables D'Olonne in France, is twinned with Worthing.

Association co-ordinator Birgitte Pierce, said: "The hills of the Elztal greeted us on our way from Basle airport with a covering of snow.

"The houses were decorated with coloured banners and life-size clown dolls and the colourful bunting strung across the road turned out to be made up of small vests and shirts and frilly knickers.

"We had arrived during their fifth season of the year - carnival time - which in the Black Forest is known as Fasnet.

"The village hall in Bleiback, where the official reception was held, was decorated with coloured balloons and paper streamers and people wore all sorts of fancy dress.

"After the speeches by the mayors, the exchange of presents, the handing over of the embroidered wall-hanging made by the ladies of Worthing Embroiderers' Guild, and a buffet lunch, groups of children, some wearing masks and all in fancy dress, came in and noisily declared the mayor would be seen as stingy unless he gave them sweets.

"They needn't have worried as he was only too glad to hand out sweets to the ever-increasing number of children demanding them.

"In the evening our hosts took us to Waldkirch. It was explained to us that all the villages and towns had their own carnival figures and customs which were observed on different days so people could attend as many events as possible.

"Hundreds of people had gathered in the market square wearing their white nightgowns and sleeping caps to hear the proclamation from the town hall balcony that, until Ash Wednesday, all authority was going to be handed over to the fools.

"We wondered where the custom of wearing nightshirts had come from. They explained the pubs would stay open all night and there was no chance of going to bed.

"On Friday, the group was shown around Freiburg, the capital of the Black Forest, after a very comfortable ride on the new Elztalbahn railway.

"From the modern railway tower cafe we had a fantastic view of the city, the surrounding countryside and the gothic cathedral. Much of Freiburg fell victim to the bombs of the war in April 1945 but has since been rebuilt in its old splendour.

"On Saturday we were entertained by the Mayor of Simonswald, who had chosen to show us an old mill where they used to produce walnut and hazelnut oil and which had been beautifully restored by volunteers, reminding us of our own Salvington mill.

"We later made our way to the market square to observe the Witches' Sabbath. Several fires were burning and masked witches were dancing around them and occasionally leaping over them.

"The red light of the flares thrown into these fires created an eerie, slightly uncomfortable, medieval atmosphere. It reminded you how, in centuries gone by, any natural catastrophes or mishaps were believed to be the work of evil forces, if not the devil himself.

"Suddenly, someone told us to move away from the window because a witch would be coming inside. We laughed and took it as one of their carnival jokes but a broomstick emitting sparks of fireworks and travelling fast along a wire delivered a witch right among us.

"Some of us also went to the Johliball in Bleibach. The Johli is a special carnival figure of that village.

"Sunday was Elzach day. The small town is famous for its ancient carnival traditions and its main figure, the Schuttig.

"This is a costume, generally worn by men, consisting of a jacket of red felt strips, white gloves and a neck tie, a green shoulder cloth holding together a carved wooden mask and an enormous tricorn straw hat dressed with hundreds of snail shells and a huge wooden pom-pom on each of its three corners.

"A special stick with an inflated pig's bladder completes the outfit. They use it to tease the girls or bang it on the ground, trying to look wild.

"To understand this we must remember most of these traditions go back to pre-Christian times when they were supposed to drive away winter and evil spirits."

The Worthing contingent watched the Schuttig parade and, on the day of their departure, visited the organ museum at Waldkirch where, for more than 200 years, fairground, barrel and cinema organs have been made. Waldkirch's deputy mayor, Ursla Querfurth, sang a ballad specially for the party, accompanied by a barrel organ.