 Feb 3 2024 - Feb 11 2024

 Ptuj, Cerknica, Cerkno, Ljubljana, Koper

Towns and villages across Slovenia will join in the carnival festivities with the culmination on the weekend ahead of Shrove Tuesday, 13 February.

The biggest carnival, with its signature sheepskin-clad Kurenti, will be held in Ptuj in the north-east of the country on Sunday, 11 February, but the 64th Kurentovanje will run all the way from 3 to 13 February.

Apart from the Kurenti, the carnival features traditional masks from Slovenia and elsewhere in Central Europe. These will first make their appearance at a ethnographic parade through Slovenia's oldest town on 3 February. Hundreds of Kurenti will pack the town's central market on 7 February.

A carnival procession, children's carnival and a night-time spectacle featuring Krampuses and Kurents will follow on Saturday, 10 February, before the festival culminates with an international carnival procession on Sunday, 11 February.

Another major carnival, in Cerknica in south-central Slovenia, draws on the local mythology of witches from Mount Slivnica and monsters from Lake Cerknica. The main event will be held on 11 February.

On the same day, the Laufarji (runners) will stage their mock trial in Cerkno in the west to convict the Pust for all the sins committed locally and the world at large in the past year.

Many traditional masks as well as more topical ones will make their appearance at carnivals in the capital Ljubljana and the port town of Koper on 10 February.