One of the really unique and rather bizarre things about Zürich is the celebration of Sechseläuten, which was observed yesterday.
There is the name, for starters, which is prounced rather like "sexy-loiten" in German (although in Zuri Deutsch it sounds more like "saxs-a-lutay" or something like that).
Also, the whole festival revolves around blowing up a giant snowman (the Böögg- also a strange name, no?). The Böögg is important enough to have been kidnapped in years past.
Sechseläuten is a celebration of spring. Sechs being German for six, in the past, this day would make the point at which work stops at 6 pm, rather than when the sun went down. There was a special bell rung at 6 pm for the rest of the summer to signal the end of the work day. Or something like that.
The burning of the Böögg is a representation of the end of winter, and the time between the lighting of the Böögg's fuse at 6.00 pm and the exploding of the head is supposed to correlate with the quality of the summer. The faster, the better.
So... so far we have spring, exploding snowmen and working hours. And this is worth a city-wide half-day holiday, meaning it's on par with Knabenschiessen.
Then, throw into this mix the historical guilds (Zünfte) of Zürich, who seem to appropriate this festival as a time to celebrate their existence, parade around and have exclusive parties. There are private balls and galas, a children's parade on Sunday and then the main parade on Monday. (It seems as though all those in the parades are related to one guild or another.)
On the Monday of Sechseläuten, the parade starts around mid-day, and all of the men of the guilds dress up in very interesting costumes and walk or ride the parade route to Sechseläutenplatz, where the Böögg is located. Some of the guilds are really obscure; for example, there is a camel guild. In Zürich. It seems as though membership in a guild is much more related to history or family, and not always with what a person's current occupation really is. Along the parade, the various guilds will actually give out products. For example, free wine from the wine guild. Free bread from the baker's guild. Free sausages from the butcher's guild. Free fish from the fisher's guild. (Although I have head tales of fish being used more as missiles than gifts...)
The women of Zürich (as they are still not allowed to join guilds) rent seats along the parade route and hand out flowers to the men they know as they parade past.
So. Having heard all about this interesting spectacle, I wanted to see for myself. I didn't have time to sit through the whole parade, which lasts for hours on end, so my colleague Rebekka and I went in time for the exploding of the Böögg. We dove into a teeming mass of humanity and were soon unable to move of our own volition- we rather went where the crowd wished us to go. There were bikes and strollers, which were a total disaster. One mother had her small child almost sucked away from her in the crowd. Then another woman fainted, and medical attention had to be fetched. It was bedlam. And, of course, by this point many people have had a beer or two. It was an experience, to be sure.
We caught the tail end of the parade as it wound towards the Böögg.
And then I saw the Böögg for the first time. (I promise, it's over there, on top of that large pile of wood.)
And then the fire started.
And then we waited. (Apparently, during this time, horses representing the guilds run in circles around the Böögg. We couldn't see this, but it happened.)
Most of the time we couldn't see the Böögg due to all of the smoke. I got a video as the head explosions were starting. I do apologize that it isn't so smooth- the crowd was a little rowdy.
I am happy to report that the explosion clocked in at a respectable 10 minutes and 56 seconds, meaning that we should have a good and hot summer here. Since we have already had weather in the 70's F for several weeks, I'm not sure that I need an exploding snowman to tell me this, but if you have been on the fence about coming to visit me this summer, clearly this should push you over the top.
At this point, we waited for the crowd to clear out so that we could get closer to the burning Böögg, which was actually great, because we were able to see the parade in reverse, as all of the guild members lined up to leave Sechseläutenplatz.
After Sechseläutenplatz was cleared and somewhat cleaned up, the gates were opened, and hordes of us common people streamed onto the gravel-covered platz to enjoy the traditional post-Böögg barbecue. Apparently the tradition is to allow the commoners to have a barbecue with the coals from the Böögg. So we did just that.
There were about a million and seven people attempting to picnic on a gravel field around a giant bonfire. Everyone had a little grill, and people were running around through the crowd with coals in shovels or buckets, delivering them to every grill. Some people brought their grills to the coals and then carried around coal-filled grills. If people did not have a grill, they just set the coals on the ground and cooked on aluminum foil. And people were literally sitting back to back, with no walkways. (In fact, several people almost stepped on our grill while trying to make their way through the crowd.) As the sun set, the air became thick with the smoke of sausages grilling, people smoking and the still-blazing Böögg remains.
And this is Sechseläuten.
There is the name, for starters, which is prounced rather like "sexy-loiten" in German (although in Zuri Deutsch it sounds more like "saxs-a-lutay" or something like that).
Also, the whole festival revolves around blowing up a giant snowman (the Böögg- also a strange name, no?). The Böögg is important enough to have been kidnapped in years past.
Sechseläuten is a celebration of spring. Sechs being German for six, in the past, this day would make the point at which work stops at 6 pm, rather than when the sun went down. There was a special bell rung at 6 pm for the rest of the summer to signal the end of the work day. Or something like that.
The burning of the Böögg is a representation of the end of winter, and the time between the lighting of the Böögg's fuse at 6.00 pm and the exploding of the head is supposed to correlate with the quality of the summer. The faster, the better.
So... so far we have spring, exploding snowmen and working hours. And this is worth a city-wide half-day holiday, meaning it's on par with Knabenschiessen.
Then, throw into this mix the historical guilds (Zünfte) of Zürich, who seem to appropriate this festival as a time to celebrate their existence, parade around and have exclusive parties. There are private balls and galas, a children's parade on Sunday and then the main parade on Monday. (It seems as though all those in the parades are related to one guild or another.)
On the Monday of Sechseläuten, the parade starts around mid-day, and all of the men of the guilds dress up in very interesting costumes and walk or ride the parade route to Sechseläutenplatz, where the Böögg is located. Some of the guilds are really obscure; for example, there is a camel guild. In Zürich. It seems as though membership in a guild is much more related to history or family, and not always with what a person's current occupation really is. Along the parade, the various guilds will actually give out products. For example, free wine from the wine guild. Free bread from the baker's guild. Free sausages from the butcher's guild. Free fish from the fisher's guild. (Although I have head tales of fish being used more as missiles than gifts...)
The women of Zürich (as they are still not allowed to join guilds) rent seats along the parade route and hand out flowers to the men they know as they parade past.
So. Having heard all about this interesting spectacle, I wanted to see for myself. I didn't have time to sit through the whole parade, which lasts for hours on end, so my colleague Rebekka and I went in time for the exploding of the Böögg. We dove into a teeming mass of humanity and were soon unable to move of our own volition- we rather went where the crowd wished us to go. There were bikes and strollers, which were a total disaster. One mother had her small child almost sucked away from her in the crowd. Then another woman fainted, and medical attention had to be fetched. It was bedlam. And, of course, by this point many people have had a beer or two. It was an experience, to be sure.
We caught the tail end of the parade as it wound towards the Böögg.
And then I saw the Böögg for the first time. (I promise, it's over there, on top of that large pile of wood.)
And then the fire started.
And then we waited. (Apparently, during this time, horses representing the guilds run in circles around the Böögg. We couldn't see this, but it happened.)
Most of the time we couldn't see the Böögg due to all of the smoke. I got a video as the head explosions were starting. I do apologize that it isn't so smooth- the crowd was a little rowdy.
I am happy to report that the explosion clocked in at a respectable 10 minutes and 56 seconds, meaning that we should have a good and hot summer here. Since we have already had weather in the 70's F for several weeks, I'm not sure that I need an exploding snowman to tell me this, but if you have been on the fence about coming to visit me this summer, clearly this should push you over the top.
At this point, we waited for the crowd to clear out so that we could get closer to the burning Böögg, which was actually great, because we were able to see the parade in reverse, as all of the guild members lined up to leave Sechseläutenplatz.
After Sechseläutenplatz was cleared and somewhat cleaned up, the gates were opened, and hordes of us common people streamed onto the gravel-covered platz to enjoy the traditional post-Böögg barbecue. Apparently the tradition is to allow the commoners to have a barbecue with the coals from the Böögg. So we did just that.
There were about a million and seven people attempting to picnic on a gravel field around a giant bonfire. Everyone had a little grill, and people were running around through the crowd with coals in shovels or buckets, delivering them to every grill. Some people brought their grills to the coals and then carried around coal-filled grills. If people did not have a grill, they just set the coals on the ground and cooked on aluminum foil. And people were literally sitting back to back, with no walkways. (In fact, several people almost stepped on our grill while trying to make their way through the crowd.) As the sun set, the air became thick with the smoke of sausages grilling, people smoking and the still-blazing Böögg remains.
And this is Sechseläuten.
