The biggest carnival in Switzerland happens in Basel - a city near where the French, German and Swiss border meet. The carnival events start at 4am Monday (Morgestraich) where the lights in the town go out and the Cliques's lanterns are illuminated. This marks the beginning of the Carnival.
Other interns went for the 4am parade and celebration but I waited until the Wednesday to drop into Basel for the final parade, taking a few hours off of work. Cliques are a group of people dressed in a uniformed theme that march in the parades playing the piccolo, drums, flutes, etc. Floats are a means of transportation for the uniquely masked participants to throw candy, flowers, confetti and sometimes large root vegetables into the crowd of onlookers.
You can buy a pin (bronze, silver or gold) in support of the carnival (and it's highly suggested you do so) but it's technically free to attend.
I always thought it was a shame that European countries by large do not celebrate Halloween but it's in fact during these carnivals that you see kids dressed up in costume and they hold out their bags for the carnival participants to throw candy to them. By no means do they get the insane 2-pillow-case haul we get in sugar addicted Canada though.
