On December 28, Basel’s Fasnacht Committee, which is the main organizing organization behind Basel’s famous carnival, revealed the design of the 2025 “Plakette” (badge), whose sale supports the various groups (Cliques) and bands (Guggemusik) participating in the Fasnacht. Each year a competition determines the season’s design, and the choice is one of Basel’s best-kept secrets until the official reveal at the end of December.

This year’s badge was again designed by artist Guido Happle, who already created last year’s winning design as well as two others before that. It has the motto “Syg wie de wottsch” (Be as you want to be) and refers to each person’s right to self-determination and the associated gender debate. According to Mathias Brenneis, who is the Fasnacht Committee member responsible for the badges, this theme has always been inherent in the Fasnacht because nobody cares, or often even knows, if there is a man or a woman under the mask of an “Alte Tante” (old aunt) or Waggis.

The badge shows a fictitious Fasnacht figure that combines elements of all the different traditional types of costumes and participants of the Fasnacht. The head is a mix between harlequin and “Blätzlibajass; for the collar, half resembles that of the Ueli and the other half that of the Pierrot; the figure wears the dress of an “Alte Tante;” and the shoes are the wooden “Zoggeli” of a Waggis. In addition, the figure has six hands carrying a stick lantern (showing the face of famous artist Jean Tinguely), a “Zeedel” (the pieceof paper on which the different groups expand on their themes for the Fasnacht), a drum stick, a large drum, a piccolo flute, a “Helge” (the story boards of the the Schnitzelbänk singers), and a drum-major’s stick, thereby representing the various groups of Fasnacht participants. Additionally, the gold and bijou versions of the badge are backed by a golden mirror image of the asymmetrical heart that represents the Eurovision Song Contest; this element was added after the winning basic design was chosen in August, before the decision to hold the contest in Basel was made.

As always, there are several versions of the badges available at different prices, including a copper version (CHF 10); silver (CHF 20); gold (CHF 50); and “Bijou” (CHF 100), which is available as both a pin and a pendant. Thirty percent of these amounts go directly to the Cliques, while the remaining 70% cover the production costs and are distributed as subsidies to various formations by the Fasnacht Committee.

The new badges and pins will go on sale on January 4. You can get them from the various Fasnacht Cliques, at certain Kiosk locations, and from the street vendors who stand at various locations in town calling out “Blaggedde! Blaggedde!” New this year, you can also order them online via the Fasnacht Committee’s website (https://www.fasnachts-comite.ch/de/shop). By purchasing a badge and proudly wearing it on your coat, especially during the Fasnacht days, you not only support the Cliques in raising some of the immense costs they incur for their masks, costumes, wagons, lanterns, instruments, etc., but you are also much more likely to receive some goodies during the large parades on the Fasnacht Monday and Wednesday rather than being doused in confetti!

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