Sechseläuten

The Sechseläuten (Zürich German: Sächsilüüte, "The six o'clock ringing of the bells") is a traditional spring holiday in the Swiss city of Zürich celebrated in its current form, usually on the 3rd Monday of April, since the early 20th century.

Burning of the Böögg

Following the parade of the Zünfte (guilds), the climax of the holiday is the burning of Winter in effigy, in the form of the Böögg, a figure of a snowman prepared with explosives. The custom of burning a rag doll called Böögg predates the Sechseläuten. A Böögg (cognate to bogey) was originally a masked character doing mischief and frightening children during the carnival season. The neighborhood association Zum Kratz has burned a Böögg each year, but originally the effigy represented some yearly disaster such as the influenza. The burning was also partially a protest against the demolition of the neighborhood Zum Kratz, which was accomplished around 1890. In 1892 the guilds then received the responsibility of burning the effigy, but now it no longer represented some disaster, but rather the winter itself, which is why the doll nowadays resembles a snowman. The combination of the Sechseläuten parade and the burning of an official Böögg was introduced in 1902. In that same year, the location of burning the Böögg was moved from the left to the right shore of Lake Zurich. The square where the Böögg was burnt was called Tonhalleplatz until 1947, when it was renamed into Sechseläuten Square.