Zurich's Sechseläuten festival: saying goodbye to winter
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Zurich burns winter in effigy every April, but the process of setting the old season alight to let the new one come in usually takes close to 15 minutes. Monday 11 April 2011 was different: old man winter, a snowman called Böögg (also written Boeoegg, in English), burned out speedily, in 10 minute 47 seconds, keeping step with the reality of this year’s weather in Switzerland, one of the earliest in years for warm weather.
The burning time is watched closely, since a shorter time portends better weather for the summer, traditionally. The shortest on record was 5:07 minutes in 1974 and the longest was 2008′s dismal 25:01 minutes.
Zurich celebrates its Sechseläuten, or spring festival in style, with 26 ancient guilds and over 1,300 guildsmen providing colourful parades, with food and drink and entertainment throughout the city centre. A new twist in 2011, reports swissinfo, has been the inclusion of a women’s guild for the first time, after 22 years of fighting to be allowed in.
swissinfo’s photo gallery of the 2011 giant Böögg barbecue
GenevaLunch feature, 2010 Sechseläuten
Fireworks were the order of the day in China as the Year of the Rabbit was ushered in on Chinese New Year’s Eve, Wednesday night 2 February but a more formal ceremony was held Thursday morning at the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan Park) in Beijing, where the ancient royal heaven worship ceremony took place. It is the start of the Chinese lunar new year, but also the Spring Festival.
Fireworks appear to be the cause of a fire that gutted a five-star hotel in northeastern China, in Shenyang, shortly after midnight. Only 50 people were in the hotel at the time, say authorities, and there were no casualties.
Much of the Chinese-speaking world, including Taiwan and cities with large Chinese populations such as Vancouver, are celebrating the lunar new year.
Economic growth, a positive turn in luck and better lives for those in need were common themes in speeches.
Links to other sites: Vancouver Sun, Xinhua, wikipedia
The economy may be suffering but for a short period the Chinese are determined to forget it, spending 13% more for the opening of the annual Spring Festival or Lunar New Year than they did in 2008. The year of the ox has so far resulted in 68 tons of debris being collected in Beijing alone, from fireworks. It might be tough to get home, but that’s the big goal for this key Chinese holiday. Xinhua and Motorbikes, Mao and a Yak
