We attended a parade revolving around the Narrensprung, which is some sort of amazing pageant from ancient times, to drive out the dark spirits that haunt us. Revelers make elaborate costumes linked by themes for sponsoring towns or regions. Some 25,000 people watched an hours-long musical parade. Bystanders were alternately flogged with inflated pig stomachs, tickled by animal tails on long sticks and growled at by ferocious monsters.