Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The weather forecast was for rain Monday 19 April, but when all of Zurich lined the streets to burn the effigy of winter and welcome spring, the sun obligingly came out. The city closes its schools and businesses including its famous banks every year for the third Monday in April. Brass bands march around town, filling the air with music, members of workers’ guilds put on costumes worn by their forebears, and horses are paraded through town as part of the Sechselaaeuten.
The crowd cheers when the effigy, a giant bonfire with a little man on top, is lit, but a few minutes later it roars with pleasure when the flames set off fireworks that are part of the bonfire – winter leaves Zurich with a bang.