264. On which holiday do people in Germany wear colorful costumes and masks?

Answer options

1. on Rose Monday (Rosenmontag)
2. on May Day (Labour Day)
3. at the Oktoberfest
4. at Pentecost (Whitsun)

Explanation

Rose Monday, the climax of Rhineland Carnival, is a pre-Lenten popular festival with medieval and early-modern roots, marked by masked parades and the carnivalesque inversion of social roles. In the Federal Republic, such parades constitute artistic expression and political satire protected by the Basic Law, especially Article 5(1) (freedom of expression and the arts) and Article 8 (freedom of assembly), subject to proportionate public-order regulation. Historically, authorities from the Kaiserreich through the Weimar period to the Nazi regime sought to control or instrumentalize carnival symbolism; the post-1949 constitutional order instead stresses civic pluralism and municipal cultural autonomy (Art. 28 GG). This contrasts with May Day, Oktoberfest, and Pentecost, which serve different socio-historical functions and are not typically associated with masked costuming nationwide.