Holidays and Festivals in Switzerland

The absence of a centralist government in Switzerland means that national public holidays are comparatively fewer in the country. However the lack is made up by festivals important in each of the cantons which is why though the Swiss may be sedate and hard-working, their calendar is livened up by an adequate number of festivals and fete days.

New Year’s Day

Known as Neujahrstag in Switzerland, New Year’s Day here is generally a quiet affair. Though some revelry and partying might have gone on the night before to usher in the New Year, January 1 is mostly reserved to spend with family and close friends. One of the favorite ways the Swiss celebrate this day is by partaking of traditional New Year’s delicacies like roast goose with chestnut stuffing birewegge or pear pie as well as a special New Year's bread rich with milk, butter, eggs, and raisins. On New Year's morning children in villages go round homes of relatives and friends, singing "Good day and good cheer" after which they are children are asked inside and treated.

Epiphany

In Catholic majority areas of Switzerland, the day of Epiphany is a public holiday which is celebrated as Le Jour de Trois Rois or Dreikonigstag on January 6. People buy special buns one of which contains a plastic king which is supposed to be lucky for the one who opens and finds it. A similar tradition involves a lucky loaf which is believed to protect the house from evil spirits for the rest of the year.

Carnival

In Switzerland, the Carnival is also called Fasnacht and is a period of merrymaking before people settle down to the austerities of Lenten fast. Though the Carnival celebrations generally involve costumes, music and satire, the details and even the schedule could differ from one canton to another. The most famous Carnival celebrations usually belong to Basel. Here on the Monday after Ash Wednesday, the street lights are turned out in the early morning and a procession of large decorative lanterns makes its way through the streets along with masked and costumed figures playing flutes and drums. Then again in the Lotschen Valley unmarried men dress up as fearsome figures known as the Tschaggata while at Flums, near the Wallensee, celebrants in wooden masks parade through the streets. It is thought that these horrible and terrifying masks, some of which symbolize abstract ideas such as war, death or disease, originally were made to dissipate the very forces they so hideously represent. Usually each canton presents awards for the most unique or original Carnival contributions.

Six Ringing Festival

Known as Sechselauten, the Six Ringing Festival is the most famous cultural celebration in Zurich. For over six hundred years the city and other places in canton of Zurich have symbolically driven out Winter and welcomed Spring with the traditional Sechselauten, Six Ringing Festival, which is observed on a Sunday and Monday early in April. The festival originated in the Middle Ages when the trade guilds governed the city. The first day of change from winter to summer schedule was celebrated as a guild holiday. For centuries the bells rang as a signal for the members of guild to cease work. Gradually the general public sought to join in festivities. Finally the Six Ringing, which started as a purely guild holiday, became an affair in which all of Zurich's citizens shared.

Holy Week and Easter

In the week leading up to Easter, different cantons of Switzerland host their regional customs depicting the Passion of Christ. For instance Ticino stages a Passion play while in Friborg women carry scarlet cushions through the streets bearing the symbols of Christ’s Passion. In Nyon the town’s fountains are decorated with flowers and eggs while in Valais canton, bread, cheese and wine are distributed.

Easter is known here as Ostern and after attending morning church service, which features magnificent music, Easter Sunday generally is spent in merrymaking and festivity. Easter traditions have a special place for decorated Easter eggs which children receive as presents from their elders or which are the focus of different kinds of Easter games. Parents often hide colored eggs under the trees and in the garden, and then call the children to "see what the Easter Hare has left for them." The boys and girls receive additional presents of little chocolate and marzipan rabbits, sugar eggs, and chocolate eggs with colored sugar flutings.

Swiss National Day

August 1 is celebrated as the Swiss National Day and is one of the very few public holidays in the country that are observed by all the cantons on the same day. This day commemorates the Oath of Confederation taken by the three original Swiss cantons in 1291. Meetings are held throughout the country at which the president and local dignitaries make speeches.

Harvest Festival

While Switzerland is now known for its banks and skiing resorts, the Swiss economy originally used to have a distinct rural character. This tradition continues to be celebrated in the different harvest festivals which take place toward the end of September. At this time, when the cattle are brought down from their Alpine pastures, fairs known as Chilbis are held in major centers and people attend church to offer their thanks to God for a good harvest. Stalls are set up in village streets selling traditional fare, serving wine, beer and coffee. One of the most distinct harvest celebrations come from the Stans, the main town of Nidwalden canton, where wild figures known as the Butzi, wearing skin and moss costumes, appear to chase the children and toss them sweets. The festival is known as SCHAFER SONNTAG or Shepherd Sunday in Belalp of the canton of Valais.

Samischlaus Abend

In Switzerland Christmas festivities officially begin on December 6, with Samichlaus Abend or Santa Claus Night. The most common custom on this day is to have Samichlaus carry a sack of nuts, apples and cookies slung over his shoulder, parading through the streets and rewarding good children with his coveted gifts but the bad ones with a switch. However the Samischlaus costume varies from place to place, as does the date of his visit. Each community observes his festival in its own peculiar way and Each village or canton has its own traditions concerning the ancient bishop saint, patron of all children.

Christmas

More than any other holiday it is perhaps Christmas Eve which is given to the largest variety in celebrations through Switzerland. In some places children think that Christkindli, the Christ Child, makes village rounds in a sleigh bringing them presents while in others, it is Father Christmas who is thought to fulfill the role. Over all though Swiss Christmas Eve ceremonies are marked by bell ringing and carol singing while Midnight Mass is widely attended through- out the country.

In Switzerland, Christmas Day also marks the beginning of winter sports, such as skating, skiing, sledding, and tobogganing. Between Christmas and New Year's Day, especially in mountain villages, people continuously visit neighbors, relations and friends. The national Swiss card game of Lass, is a common pastime at these gatherings, which usually end with a Kaffeeklatsch, or coffee served with many varieties of homemade holiday cakes.