august 1st switzerland

Posted on 28/7/2009 at 17:00 - Post Comment

dutchwomanabroad

august 1st 2009

today is 'the' day in switzerland: the national holiday. i checked it out and the legend tells that in 1291, on the 1st of august, the cantons of uri, schwyz and niederwalden made a pact to fight together against the austrians and other enemies. only in 1993 the people of switzerland voted for establishing this day as a holiday and in 1994 it was celebrated for the first time all over the country. i was very surprised reading this, i thought this was a century old tradition. in the swiss-german part you get the best out of people on this day: their conservatory mind goes on red with a white cross in the middle, they get out their costumes, their guns and flags and reenact 1291 with bonfires and fireworks. we ,south of the alps, do something similar but without the breastbone thrusted forward. ticino only got annexed to switzerland in 1803. napoleon 'decided' that ticino should become an indipendent republic in the swiss confederation. this was after centuries of being fought over and fighting with everyone surrounding. anyway, all you hear people talking about is "what are you going to do on august 1st"? well, for a couple of years hubby dear and his mates organized a great beach party in tegna with grill and disco, a bonfire and fireworks. a couple of days of work, as a volunteer, and then having the satisfaction that in first year 400 persons having a great time and the last time at least 5000. it was on the internet rated the best party of swizerland! the men stopped because of security reasons. so now loads of people of the 'terre di pedemonte' are a bit lost. and we, what are we going to do? last year we had in the last moment arranged get together with some friends. this year we'll go somewhere where there is music, a grill and nice people, preferably near the river since it is so hot.