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As dusk settles in, the marching bands somehow reorganize for a long final parade. Musicians demonstrate that famous Swiss stamina, playing on and on. After the parade, the party continues in the streets into the wee hours.

All this craziness is somehow still very Swiss. The streets are never dangerous, just filled with a relaxed vibe of goodwill. And at the end, the street-sweeping machine is there to make sure everyone wakes up the next morning to cleanliness and order.

Scare Away Winter in Slovenia

Some of Europe's oldest Easter traditions are found in tiny Slovenia, where Carnival is called Kurentovanje (koo-rent-oh-VAWN-yeh). Because of the country's mountainous landscape, isolated villages maintain local customs.

Carnival season culminates in Slovenia's undisputed Carnival capital, the town of Ptuj. (How to pronounce it? Just spit it out. P-TOO-ee!) The celebration lasts several days, with parades, masked balls, concerts, kids' events, bar-hopping, and general debauchery. The star of the show is a big shaggy creature called Kurent, with a long red tongue, horns, snout, whiskers, and two red-ringed eyes. He's a fun-loving pagan Slavic god of hedonism -- a Slovenian Bacchus -- whose role is to scare off winter. Kurentovanje starts with the Kurent costume, traditionally made of the stinkiest sheepskin hides available and worn with five heavy cowbells, which wearers clang as loudly as possible from house to house. Villagers appease the savage beasts with food and drink, hanging a sausage on the Kurent chief's stick -- which is wrapped on one end with a spiny hedgehog skin.

The main event is the big parade on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. Thousands of spectators line the route. Guys crack long bullwhips, snapping the crowd to attention. Costumed characters arrive: ploughmen to "wake up the soil," followed by a parade of symbolic animals: giant hens (who lay the fertile eggs of Easter) and high-spirited horses (representing healthy livestock). An old woman carries an elderly man on her back, signifying carrying memories of departed ancestors. Oranges are tossed to the crowd from horse-drawn wagons, a reminder that the bounty of warmer weather is just around the corner. But the Kurents -- more bizarre expressions of winter's ebb -- are always the stars.

If you're lucky enough to be in a European town during Carnival, let your hair down and experience some local customs while you celebrate these rites of spring.

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(Rick Steves (www.ricksteves.com) writes European travel guidebooks and hosts travel shows on public television and public radio. Email him at rick@ricksteves.com and follow his blog on Facebook.)

(c)2016 RICK STEVES DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.