The story
Helvetia Fasnacht in Helvetia
Helvetia Fasnacht carries Swiss and Alemannic pre-Lenten carnival customs into the West Virginia hills, where masked marchers in handmade costumes move through a village small enough to feel like one shared front porch. The day builds from playful daylight processions and square dancing into the firelit burning of Old Man Winter, a tradition rooted here since 1869.
By afternoon the cold sits sharp in the hills, and then the village breaks into noise: masked figures moving down the road, cowbells clanging, boots crunching on winter ground, and neighbors packed shoulder to shoulder in the middle of Helvetia.