Children's Parade

Zürich's leonine symbol sports the city colors during the Kinderumzug

One of the big festivals in Zürich is Sechseläuten - Sächsilüüte in Swiss German. Sechseläuten in its present form dates back to the early 20th Century, but it has its origins much earlier. In medieval winters, folks worked as long as there was light. In the summer, 6 PM was the legal end of the workday, which was marked by bells ringing in churches to tell people it was time to knock off for the day. Sechseläuten means something like "six o'clock bell ringing", and these days is a traditional festival to mark the coming of spring.

Two of the big highlights of Sechseläuten are the Kinderumzug (Children's Parade) and the lighting of the Böögg. The Böögg is a 10-foot-tall (or so) snowman who stands on a tall pyre built in the center of a square near Bellevue and the Zürich Opernhaus. The head of the Böögg is stuffed with explosives. Once the Böögg is on its pyre, the whole thing is torched. Tradition has it that the length of time it takes for the Böögg to go boom foretells the summer weather in Zürich that year: quick burning means a hot summer, slow burning means cool and wet. This year: 26 minutes, which means we're supposed to be in for a cool, wet winter. Skeptics should bear in mind that the Swiss Meteo folks have shown there's approximately a zero correlation between the Böögg burning time and the weather in the following summer.

The idea of watching a giant snowman going boom in the center of Zürich on a Monday evening is appealing in a surreal way. However, we were warned by my colleagues and our Swiss friends that it takes a long time, there are tens of thousands of folks there, and it is generally not the best place to take a young kid, so we skipped it. This was a wise choice, as it poured rain this year (which might help to explain that 26 minutes, I suppose).

Instead, we decided to watch the Children's Parade, which is held on the Sunday before the Böögg goes boom. This turned out to be a great idea - it was a lovely warm afternoon, there were good grilled sausages to be had inexpensively, and the parade was lots of fun. The parade's main feature is adorable kids dressed in traditional clothing from various eras in Swiss history, organized in chronological order with the earliest periods first. Here are some samples, not in order:






LGG was thrilled to discover that some of the adorable children give out candy:

though she decided after a while that we had had enough and should really share with the kids on either side of us.

There are also bands:



Old soldiers never die, they are reincarnated as kids wearing army uniforms from long ago:

and waving to you when the timing is right:

(those are Kyburger Dragoneers, apparently.)

At one point, a maypole came by with kids dancing. We were really impressed that they managed to dance around the pole as it was being carried down the street:


The parade also features folks representing the various guilds in Zurich (fishermen, in this case)

and flags representing the various districts of Zürich:


There were, of course, some things we didn't expect during the parade. For example, toward the end, we were treated to Chinese dragon dancers and lion dancers:


Proof, I suppose, of just how international Zürich really is.

We also learned that horses wear hats during the Children's Parade:


and that trees walk the streets of Zürich at certain times:


These fine young gentlemen would be happy to give you a trim:


but you could also escape on these cool old bikes:


You could also take a spin on an old wagon wheel, as these figures were doing while being pulled down the street:


Finally, the parade came to an end with Old Man Winter About to go Boom himself, the Böögg:

who looks rather calm given what's going to happen to him the next day.

LGG has announced that she will be participating in the Kinderumzug next year, and that she expects us to arrange a ride for her because it's a long way to walk. Her favorite period dresses were the hoop skirts during the Spanish, Baroque, and Rococo periods. That's fine with me, and I hope she still likes them when she's 14 - they'll make a handy buffer against boyfriends.