Sechseläuten Monday

Above is a shot from the Sechseläuten Zug der Zünfte (the procession of the guilds). This is one of my favorites because traditionally, membership in the guilds was only open to men, so the vast majority of the participants in the parade are men. Mostly, the women stand on the sidelines handing out flowers to the guildmembers they know (husbands, fathers, brothers, friends, etc...) as they walk by. It was nice to see a woman with her own bunch of flowers for a change, so I decided to post a picture of her. More pictures of the parade here.

And below is the highlight of the entire festival: the burning of the Böög

According to tradition, the Böög, an efigy of a snowman stuffed with explosives, is placed on top of a huge pyre. After the parade, at preciesly 6 pm, the whole thing is set on fire in order to blast away the Winter, and welcome the Spring. Legend has it that the sooner the Böög's head explodes, the warmer, longer, and better summer we will have. It took just over 12 minutes for his head to blow up, meaning that we should have a moderate summer this year. With apologies to Punxsutawney Phil, I must say that the Böög is a far more exciting weather forecaster. Click here for more details on yesterday's events.

Sechseläuten Children's Parade

The main event on Sechseläuten Sunday is the Children's Parade. The kids wear historical costumes representing the guilds, carry flowers to welcome Spring, and hand out candy to spectators. It's usually cloudy and chilly during this time of the year, but the last few days have been gloriously bright and sunny, and hot, hot, hot! (around 24-25C yesterday, I think) Though cute, the poor kids were wilting underneath those heavy velvet dresses, tights, hats, vests, long sleeves, etc...This is one of my favorite pictures because it's one of the few where the boy is smiling. These boys represented the bakers' guild and were handing out breadrolls instead of candy. A few more pictures of kids (some looking less thrilled than others) in heavy costumes here.

Sechseläuten Saturday

These two were on their way to a formal ball held on Sechseläuten Saturday for the parade participants and guild members. More pictures of participants in traditional costumes here.

Each year during Sechseläuten, Zürich invites one of the other cantons to be a special guest. Tents are set up at the Lindenhof, where representatives from the guest canton perform traditional music and dance. This year's guest canton is Zug (which in German means 'train').

Pictured here is the Böög, who will meet his explosive fate on Monday evening, welcoming a representative from the Canton of Zug, holding the canton's shield. Note that in the poster, Sechseläuten has been spelled phonetically in Swiss German, which for me is hopelessly unpronounceable.

(Not exactly Sunday graffiti, but I'll make up for it some other day...)

guild banners

The city is all decked out for for Sechseläuten, Zürich's own version of Grounghog Day, which takes place this Monday. However, Sechseläuten festivities will be taking place all weekend. More on Sechselauten in the next few days. For now I'll just say that it involves parades, children, guild members in traditional costume, flowers, flying fish, and an exploding snowman. Swiss flags and banners representing Zürich's old guilds have been put up all over the Old Town. Pictured here are some of the guild banners. My personal favorite so far is the the "pretzel-makers guild"