Swiss National Day

@1tm122n22m Atma Unum

🎉 Celebrate Swiss National Day on August 1st! 🇨🇭 Enjoy traditions, fireworks, and local festivities all over Switzerland! Let’s honor our heritage together! #SwissNationalDay #August1st #CelebrateSwitzerland 🎆🥨

Swiss National Day (German: Schweizer Bundesfeiertag; French: Fête nationale suisse; Italian: Festa nazionale svizzera; Romansh: Festa naziunala svizra) is the national holiday of Switzerland, set on 1 August. More commonly used in Swiss Standard German are the terms: “1. August”, and “Bundesfeier”. The date August 1 as chosen in reference to the Federal Charter of early August 1291. Although the founding of the Swiss Confederacy was first celebrated on this date in 1891 and annually since 1899, it has only been an official holiday since 1994.

History of the holiday

The day was first celebrated on August 1, 1891, and repeated annually throughout Switzerland from 1899 onwards. To ensure that the day would not be exhausted by “mere pleasure and celebration”, a committee for the Federal Day donations was founded in 1909 on the initiative of the St. Gallen merchant Albert Schuster Jr. These donations were collected from 1910 onwards through the sale of postcards. The purpose of the collection was initially agreed upon with the Swiss government. In those years, when a welfare state barely existed, the collected money was to help the needy. The very first card bore the imprint “Pro Patria”, which later became the oficial name of the Federal Day Committee. Postcards were published until 1960, and from 1923 onwards there was the so-called “Fist of August Badge” in addition to the Federal Day.

The Federal Holiday is a public holiday in Switzerland, but until 1993 it was either a normal working day, a half day, or a full public holiday, depending on the canton . August 1 does not refer to the date of the Rütli Oath (the historian Aegidius Tschudi, in his Swiss Chronicle from the mid-16th century, set the date of the Rütli Oath to the “Wednesday before St. Martin’s Day” 1307, i.e., November 8, 1307), but to the Federal Charter of 1291, which is dated early August 1291.

The idea of designating 1291 as the founding year of the Swiss Confederation and August 1st as a federal holiday originated from the people of Bern, who wanted to celebrate the city’s 700th anniversary in 1891. The connection with the 600th anniversary of the Swiss Confederation was a very convenient move. The report written by the Department of the Interior for the attention of the Federal Council on November 21, 1889, actually called for a two-day celebration in Bern, rather than in central Switzerland. However, the Federal Charter of 1291, which recorded the defense agreement between the three founding cantons, was a document that was not without controversy. As early as the 19th century, historians counted 82 documents sealing similar alliances between 1251 and 1386. In particular, the League of Brunnen of 1315 was considered by many to be the founding act of the Swiss Confederation, if one did not assume that the Confederation had been formed gradually.

Even into the 20th century, Aegidius Tschudi’s date of the Rütli Oath (November 8, 1307) remained the date of the Swiss Confederation’s birth. In 1907, the 600th anniversary of the Confederation was celebrated in Altdorf, canton of Uri, in the presence of a Federal Council delegation. Since then, the memory of 1307 as the date of the Rütli Oath and thus the founding year of the Confederation has faded. In the new national myth, which was shaped during the Second World War —including General Guisan ‘s Rütli Report and the 650th anniversary celebrations in 1941— the Rütli Oath myth became increasingly linked to the Swiss federal holiday established by the Federal Council in 1889.

The Federal Celebration Committee (now Pro Patria ), founded in 1909, began issuing Federal Celebration postcards in 1910 to raise funds for charitable causes, such as the Swiss Red Cross or the Mothers’ Aid. In 1923, the official 1 August badge was added, and in 1938, the Federal Celebration stamp with a tax surcharge was added as a third means of collecting. The Federal Celebration cards were discontinued in 1960, while the sale of badges and stamps by schoolchildren continues to this day. Since 1992, the Pro Patria Foundation has used them to support the preservation and maintenance of cultural landscapes and architectural monuments.

Since 1 July 1994, the Swiss National Day has been a non-working day throughout Switzerland, following the adoption by the Swiss electorate of the popular initiative “for a non-working federal holiday” ( August 1 Initiative ) on 26 September 1993 (see Article 110, paragraph 3 of the Federal Constitution). Previously, the day had this status only in some cantons.

The August 1st brunch, which has since become a tradition, was first held on individual farms in 1993. In 2007, 420 farms welcomed a total of 200,000 guests. This farm breakfast primarily offers milk, muesli, fruit, fresh plaited bread, August 1st rolls, cheese, sausage, and homemade rösti. The brunch is coordinated by the Swiss Farmers’ Association .

Today, it is a tradition to set off fireworks on the evening of August 1st, sometimes organized by municipalities, but mainly at private celebrations. However, the drought and heat in Europe in 2018 meant that in many places, bonfires and fireworks could not be set off that year due to the risk of forest fires, as a complete ban on open fires was in place. As a result of the climate emergency, the city of Olten and the municipality of Stein also cancelled the August 1st fireworks display in 2019. The Migros Aare cooperative has completely refrained from selling fireworks since the end of 2018. Since 2020, the city of Bern has also refrained from setting off the August 1st fireworks display.

In 2020 and 2021 , some municipalities canceled the official federal celebrations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The drought and heat in Europe in 2022 also led to fire and firework bans in many places that year.

Festivities and customs on August 1st

Many people decorate their homes with Swiss, cantonal, and municipal flags. Flying flags on public buildings, streets, and squares is required by law in most places.

Celebrations take place in the communities in the afternoon or evening, with each village maintaining its own traditions. Prayers for the people and the fatherland, the singing of the national anthem (the Swiss Psalm), and the ringing of bells are usually part of the festivities. In some places, traditional costumes are worn. Often, a public figure gives a speech, and the local band performs.

As darkness falls, children light their lanterns, and in many places, private or public fireworks are set off. Meter- high bonfires burn on many mountain peaks and hills .

A national celebration has not become established. Only on the Rütli , according to legend the “cradle of the Swiss Confederation,” the Swiss Charitable Society (SGG) has regularly held a federal celebration since 1942, addressed to all Swiss residents. In addition, a celebratory radio and television address by the President of the Confederation is broadcast. In the evenings, the public broadcaster SRG (Swiss Broadcasting Corporation) used to broadcast a federal celebration program from a single municipality, common to the four language regions. For several years now, this program has been called “Lueget vo Berg und Tal” (Looking at the Mountains and Valley) in Swiss German and consists of editorial contributions presented by presenters from the four language regions.

At 8 p.m., all church bells throughout Switzerland ring for a quarter of an hour.

Town-specific celebrations

The day of independence is typically celebrated at a local municipality level, though certain events draw nationwide attention such as:

Basel: In Basel the unofficial “Federal Day celebration on the Rhine” has been held on July 31st since 1993; it is based on the tradition of the earlier “Rhine Night Festival”. The local music clubs are an integral part of the festival program. There are numerous concerts on the festival grounds on the Rhine. This stretches on the Kleinbasel bank of the Rhine from the Johanniter Bridge to the Wettstein Bridge and in Grossbasel from the Johanniter Bridge to the Mittlere Brücke and from the Schifflände to the Marktplatz. On average, 100,000 visitors from the city and the surrounding area take part in the Federal Day celebration. On the Rhine itself there is a rubber dinghy race and the Sternenleuchten, a charity light event for developing countries. The subsequent large fireworks display is set off on two Rhine ships above and below the Mittlere Brücke. The official Basel Federal Day celebration takes place on August 1st on the Bruderholz.
Biel/Bienne: In some municipalities (for example Biel/Bienne ) the official Federal Day celebration takes place the evening before.
Schaffhausen: the 25-metre-high (82 ft) Rhine Falls waterfall has been regularly lit for the national holiday since 1920 and since 1966 is now lit only for this holiday.
Rütli Meadow: above Lake Lucerne, a representational celebration is staged in the location where the legendary pledge of alliance, the Rütlischwur is said to have taken place.

Cross-border federal celebration

The Swiss National Day has been celebrated for many years in the divided town of Laufenburg , located on the border between Switzerland and Germany . Music and dance groups from both countries perform around the border line at the Old Rhine Bridge, which connects the two parts of the city. In 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte divided Laufenburg into two halves along the Rhine: the southern part belongs to Switzerland (the canton of Aargau) and the northern part to Germany (the state of Baden-Württemberg).

Celebrations around the world

The Swiss National Day is also celebrated at Swiss embassies around the world.

Until 2013, the largest Swiss National Day event in the USA was organized and held annually by the Swiss Benevolent Society of New York. Usually held in Manhattan, the event draws thousands of Swiss, Swiss-Americans and Friends of Switzerland from around New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The event was held at the group’s former hospice in Mount Kisco, New York during the 1970s.

Since 2014, the event format has changed with the motto Back to the roots. It is a great family event again where one can enjoy everything ranging from Swiss sausages to Raclette, Swiss wine, bands, a DJ and kids’ corner. Since 2014, the event has been organized by the Swiss Society of New York, the Swiss Benevolent Society of New York and the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York.

Celebrations are also held in Washington, District of Columbia by the Swiss Club of Washington, D.C., on the Swiss Embassy grounds, in Monterey County, California at the Swiss Rifle Club, at the Newark Swiss Park in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier in Swiss Park. The Swiss Park celebration features Swiss cultural events and games, including a crossbow competition.

In Britain it is also Yorkshire Day, celebrating the county of Yorkshire. Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate, founded in 1919 by a Swiss baker, celebrate both of these days in its 6 cafe-tearooms across Yorkshire. For the National celebration, Swiss societies across the UK celebrate typically two Saturdays before the actual 1 August date to allow an opportunity for Swiss families based in the UK to attend prior to the long August summer break. In London Swiss National Day is held in Richmond, organised by the Swiss National Day London Committee, an independent group of volunteers, with the support of the Swiss Embassy London and Swiss clubs New Helvetic Society and Unione Ticinese.

Mont Sutton Quebec hosts one of the largest Swiss National Day celebrations outside Switzerland. Each year, it features one canton, with food and products from that canton.

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