{"id":9371,"date":"2023-04-22T23:47:37","date_gmt":"2023-04-22T21:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dotonmap.com\/?p=9371"},"modified":"2026-09-29T16:40:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T16:40:43","slug":"sechselaeuten-zuerich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dotonmap.com\/de\/switzerland\/zurich\/sechselauten\/","title":{"rendered":"Sechsel\u00e4uten \u2013 Fr\u00fchlingsfest in Z\u00fcrich, Schweiz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sechsel\u00e4uten<\/strong> (Zurich German: S\u00e4chsil\u00fc\u00fcte) is Zurich\u2019s traditional spring festival, celebrating the end of winter. The name means \u201cthe six o\u2019clock ringing\u201d: in the past, the bell of the Grossm\u00fcnster church rang at 6 p.m. to mark the end of the working day in the summer half of the year. The festival is held on the third Monday of April (a week later if that day is Easter Monday), and a children\u2019s parade takes place the day before. In 2026 it fell on Monday, 20 April; in 2027 it will be held on Monday, 19 April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The centerpiece of Sechsel\u00e4uten is the burning of the B\u00f6\u00f6gg, a snowman effigy that symbolizes winter. On Monday afternoon, Zurich\u2019s 26 guilds \u2013 originally associations of craftsmen such as bakers, smiths and winemakers \u2013 march in historical costumes on foot, on horseback and on decorated floats, accompanied by brass bands, along Bahnhofstrasse and Limmatquai to Sechsel\u00e4utenplatz, the square by the Zurich Opera House and Lake Zurich. Every year a guest canton joins the parade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sechsel\u00e4utenplatz, a tall pyre of brushwood is built in advance, with the B\u00f6\u00f6gg on top of a pole. At 6 p.m., as the Grossm\u00fcnster bells strike six, the pyre is lit and the guild riders gallop around the fire. The B\u00f6\u00f6gg is packed with firecrackers, especially its head, and when the flames reach it, the head explodes. Local folklore holds that the time this takes predicts the summer: a quick explosion means a warm, sunny summer, a slow one a cool, wet season. It usually takes 10\u201320 minutes; the record is 5 minutes 7 seconds (1974), and the slowest was 57 minutes in the rain of 2023. In 2024 strong winds prevented the burning altogether, and in 2026 the head exploded after 12 minutes 48 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tipps f\u00fcr Besucher:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n