The story
Maastricht Carnival in Maastricht
Mestreechter Vastelaovend, known internationally as Maastricht Carnival, is the city's largest annual public festival, filling the streets for three to five days each February or March. Dressed in the carnival's official red, yellow, and green colors, the city elects a secret Prince Carnival, stages street parades with floats and giant puppets, and fills its squares with satirical songs and costumed crowds.
Carnival in the southern Netherlands sits at the meeting point of Catholic religious calendar and centuries of local street tradition, and nowhere in the Dutch province of Limburg is that meeting point more pronounced than in Maastricht.