Two women dressed up as elderly walk with a paper in attached to their back reading "Still working at 80 the economy has to keep running" before the official start of the Carnival season in Cologne, western Germany on November 11, 2026. The carnival season usually starts on November 11 at 11:11am and it finishes on Ash Wednesday of the following year with the main festivities happening around Rosenmontag (Rose Monday). (Photo by INA FASSBENDER / AFP via Getty Images)