Fun or annoying?

Carnival in Austria: a festival that polarizes

These two young men are clearly recognizable as carnival fans.(Bild: krone.tv)

Shrove Tuesday - this year on March 4 - is the highlight of the carnival season in Austria. In this country, the celebrations with creative costumes and exuberant parties have a long tradition. However, there are also people for whom the "fifth season" simply gets on their nerves.

In many places, the carnival season is all about exuberance and joie de vivre. Young and old alike enjoy dressing up in creative costumes. The so-called fifth season is celebrated particularly extensively in the western federal states: In Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Salzburg, as well as in Upper Austria, one in two people attend a carnival event, according to the latest HV Consumer Check, while in Vienna the figure is less than one in three.