Austria where I live now is a very catholic country. Before I moved here I never really cared about all the religious stuff, and the bible. I am not religious at all...

Anyway, today a question came to my mind when some friends of mine were talking about the Karneval (Fasching). Now as far as I know, Fasching used to be regarded evil by religious people...it's an atheist tradition i always thought. But here's the weird thing: Austria has a big Fasching in one of the most catholic regions and somehow that's contradictory for me. Why does a catholic country like austria celebrate the Fasching if its against their belief?