Tens of thousands of masked people storm into Villach city center on Carnival Saturday and transform the center of the Drau city into a carnival stronghold. And the weather plays into the fools’ hands.
Thank God the weather forecasts of the past few days did not come true for the fools in the Draustadt. Because instead of constant rain, the thousands of masked people can look forward to partly dry weather. And that creates a great atmosphere for the parade participants and onlookers. Numerous floats and groups at the parade. A total of 52 groups from home and abroad are represented in the big parade, which really gets going at 2 p.m. Traditionally, the parade opens with the handover of the key to the city of Villach to the Villach prince couple. Disguise is particularly trendy at this year’s parade. Numerous fools dressed up as characters from Mario Kart. Freedom of fools before Lent Carnival! The term promises exuberant activity. The Middle High German word “vaschanc” became our carnival. Under the name “vaschanc”, the guilds served a drink before the start of Lent, accompanied by plenty of food. The much younger term carnival is derived from Latin and means something like “taking away meat” – so it refers to Lent.
source site-12