The official spring festival in Switzerland
The official spring festival in Switzerland is held on May 1. This event in the first decade of the month May is annual. Help us
Spring is an important season in many cultures and Switzerland is no exception. The official spring festival in Switzerland begin with Sechseläuten.
Sechseläuten is a centuries-old tradition to herald the beginning of spring in Zurich. It is an old spring festival that occurs every year on the third Monday of April. The rite culminates in the burning of the Böög - a figure of a snowman symbolizing winter.
Besides guild members attired in historical costumes, the festival is characterized by music ensembles, horses, flowers, flags, and the Böögg. Nowadays, the Böögg is even the main protagonist: the pyre with the snowman figure on top is set alight when the clock of the Grossmünster church strikes 6 pm. The faster his head – which is filled with fireworks – explodes, the finer the summer will be. At least that’s what the people of Zurich say.
Similar holidays and events, festivals and interesting facts
International Sculpture Day on April 26 (Held on the last Saturday of April);
Mother’s Day on May 11 (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bonaire, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Cambodia, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Dem. Rep., Congo, Rep., Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Gabon, Gambia, Greenland, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Macau, Malaysia, Malta, Myanmar, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, Vietnam, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe);
Switzerland’s Overshoot Day on May 13 (date for 2022);
Christ's Ascension on May 29 (or Kristi Himmelfartsdag in Norway);