Sechselauten

Yesterday was a holiday in Zurich, called Sechselauten. It's a historical holiday, and I've been told that it's a celebration of the end of winter and start of summer. It's called "Sechselauten" which translates to "Six bells ringing" (roughly). It started as a celebration by farm owners and shop owners who could make their employees work until 6pm in the summer because it is still light out. Now, however, it's more of a way to honor all of the working "guilds" in Switzerland (bakers, farmers, woodworkers, etc.). People get the day off work (unless they are accountants with GM:( ) There's a big parade early in the afternoon, then at 6pm precisely (we are talking about the Swiss you know!), they light a big bonfire in the middle of the city that has a snowman on the top of it. The idea is to "melt" the snowman and welcome in the summer.

It's kind of like our Groundhog Day in the US. If the bonfire burns quickly and the snowman "melts" (which really means he burns up and his head explodes into fireworks), it will be a nice summer. If it takes a long time, then summer will be dreary. This year it took 12 minutes and 55 seconds, which apparently is just so-so. So we'll see how this summer turns out! No matter what we had a great time experiencing a Swiss tradition. Pics from the parade. All the participants wore traditional/historical costumes.

Here's the Boogg, prefire

Here's Aidan at the party we went to at our German school's office overlooking the crowds and bonfire.

Burn, Boogg, burn!

For more information, check this article from a Swiss online newspaper: http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=76188663213&h=Han6u&u=N_YSz&ref=nf

It's in English, don't worry!