The carnival session, also known as the "Fifth Season", begins each year on 11 November at 11:11 a.m. and finishes on Ash Wednesday of the following year with the main festivities happening around "Rosenmontag" (Rose Monday).
Although the festivities and parties start as early as the beginning of January, the actual carnival week starts on the Thursday ("Weiberfastnacht") before Ash Wednesday (in Germany).
The big German carnival parades are held on the weekend before and especially on Rosenmontag, the day before Shrove Tuesday, and sometimes also on Shrove Tuesday ("Faschingsdienstag")
itself in the suburbs of larger carnival cities. In Austria, festivities tend to culminate sooner, on "Faschingsamstag", the Saturday before Rosenmontag.