The term ‘Auskehren’ literally means ‘sweeping out’ and every year on Shrove Tuesday the highly popular tradition of ‘Auskehren’ takes place in Imst with a smaller-scale night-time carnival procession to mark the end of the festive season before the beginning of Lent. The main figures from the Schemenlaufen parade – the Roller and Scheller – do not take part. Instead, the witches are in the limelight under the auspices of the ‘Hexenmutter’ – the mother of witches – who also ranks as the procession’s highest authority. The witches are accompanied by ‘Zinter’ – Altfrank figures carrying lanterns to shine a little light on the dark goings-on – as well as ‘Wiflig’ figures, a group
