10 Facts about the Böögg and Sechselaeuten
10 Facts about the Böögg and Sechselaeuten
Photo by Geoff Pegler
- Sechselaeuten is not a Switzerland wide custom but a Zurich tradition. It is a festival to celebrate the end of Winter and it was originally related to the introduction of the Summer working hours – see here for more info.
Photo by Geoff Pegler
- The Böögg looks like a snowman and stands 3.4 metres tall and his head is always stuffed with fireworks.
- The earliest recorded celebration of Sechselaeuten dates back to 1525.
- These days Sechselaeuten is always held on the 3rd Monday in April every year.
- The Böögg has always been set alight in Sechselaeutenplatz, except for during the war when the land was used for growing potatoes. At that time it was held at Enge and the Böögg’s head fell into Lake Zurich!
- In 1950, 1960, 1993 and 1994 the Böögg came off his bonfire before his head had had the chance to explode.
- The Fisherman’s Guild, the Zunfthaus Zurich Schiffleuten, one of the many Guilds which take part in the parades on Monday afternoon, used to throw dead fish into the crowds during the processions. This was stopped in 2016 and now they throw chocolate fish instead.
- The longest time for the Böögg to burn was in 2016 when it took over 43 minutes.
- The Böögg maker Heinz Wahrenberger retired in 2015 after 50 years and in 2016 Lukas Meier took over for the first time.
- After the Böögg has exploded there’s now a new tradition to grill your sausages in the burning embers.
This year’s Böögg will be set alight at 6pm on Monday 8th April 2019.
We hope you enjoyed our “10 Facts about the Böögg and Sechselaeuten”.
For more information about the Tradition of Sechselaeuten and what it stands for see our previous article here:
Have fun and enjoy this year’s celebration!
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Tags: 10 Facts about the Böögg and Sechselaeuten, Burning the Böögg in Zurich for Sechselaeuten, Sechselaeuten 16th April 2018, Switzerland traditions, The tradition of Sechselaeuten, Zurich traditions
A very poorly written post and lost opportunity.
How about telling us WHY the tradition exists. What does it mean? Why is there a figure of a person and not an animal or something else? Why is it a king? Why is he wrapped in white, and not just straw? Those are cool facts we want to know.
Thank you for your comment Jordan! This is just meant to be a few fun facts about the celebration to be read in conjunction with the main article which covers all the details you mentioned were missing. Here is the link to the main article: https://newinzurich.com/2017/03/sechselauten-and-the-burning-of-the-boogg-in-zurich/ – I hope that helps!
Lovely photos what a fun celebration! Hopefully I can make it next year!
Thanks for your comment Melanie! Glad you like the photos. There is another post all about the history behind the tradition which is meant to go with this article – here’s the link: https://newinzurich.com/2017/03/sechselauten-and-the-burning-of-the-boogg-in-zurich/
Would be nice to change the photos. Instead of the Zunft zur Kämbel you should use photos of the Zunft zur Schiffleuten (Fishermen) who used to throw fishes.
If you have a photo of the Zunft zur Schiffleuten we would be delighted to use it 🙂