Popular customs and festivals in Switzerland

The first of March used to be the date public offices were appointed in many regions of the Graubünden. Today, it is the day of the largest children's festival in the Engadine and a few other valleys (Val Mustair, Bregaglia, Oberhalbstein).

During Lent, three weeks before Easter, the Thurgovian village of Ermatingen celebrates its Groppenfasnacht, or fish carnival. The carnival gets its name from the main character of the event, the Gropp, a fish, 10-15 cm in length, which is caught only in the Ermatingen area.

When night falls, St. Nicholas, the patron saint of Fribourg, rides a donkey through the streets of the old city, leading a procession towards the platform erected under the portico of the cathedral.

During the night of December 11-12, 1602, the city of Geneva was attacked by Savoyard soldiers, who attempted to scale the city ramparts. The Duke of Savoy, who had lost his former possession of Geneva, was trying to reclaim it.

On December 6, or a date near it, the schoolchildren of most Glarus communities parade through their villages, ringing and jingling bells of all sizes, sometimes in rhythmic unison, sometimes in wild abandon.

The village of Hallwil, in Reformed Aargau, is the only one far and wide to maintain a complete cycle of winter customs, all taking place within one month. Such an effort naturally requires the initiative and the involvement of many people.

On December 5, the eve of St. Nicholas' Day, the village of Küssnacht, on the shores of Lake Lucerne, glows in the light of some two hundred enormous, transparent bishops' miters which have been artfully designed, cut out of cardboard, assembled, and lit by a candle from within.

The origin of this New Year's Eve custom in the Bernese town of Laupen can be traced back to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Originally it took place on the day of Christmas. Since it was a rather noisy and sometimes even rowdy celebration, town officials repeatedly tried to forbid it, without success.

In many areas of Basel-Country, bone-fires and torch-light parades form the prelude to carnival, which coincides with the one being celebrated by the city of Basel. In the small town of Liestal, a most spectacular form of this prelude has become famous in its own right, partly owing to the fact that is is performed at various festivals.

Starting as early as Candlemas (February 2) one may encounter the Roitschäggätä in the Lötschental. These are wild figures clad in fur and hiding behind impressive wooden masks.