Swiss New Year’s Celebrations
Lying at the heart of Europe, Switzerland is known as one of the happiest countries in
the world. The tradition-loving Swiss celebrate the arrival of the New Year in some
quirky ways that are even hundreds of years old.
Dating back to 1541 in Rheinfelden, the plague spread overwhelmingly throughout
the town. To drive away the disease, the locals sang Christmas songs at the top of
their voice. Nowadays, there is a professional choir to take charge of the celebration.
On the evening of December 24th and 31st, the whole city will turn off the lights for an
entire hour for the celebration. At that time, the 12 members of the choir will dress in
totally black, parade through the city and stop to sing by six fountains. The
atmosphere in the darkness will be quiet and peaceful, with the only light coming
from the lanterns carried by the choir.
In a rural area called Appenzell in northern Switzerland, the residents celebrate the
New Year twice, respectively on December 31 st and January 13th. At dawn, groups of
men will dress up as “Fathers of New Year” and come round to each farmhouse. They
will ring the cowbell and sing a tune without lyrics in a circle. In the end, they offer
their best wished and get some money as rewards. The men are even divided into
three groups now according to their appearance. Different groups have different
costumes, the more handsome they are, the more exquisite their costumes are.
