Comments on Swisstory: Guest Post: Räbeliechtli

It's associated with St. Martin's Day, whi...

2009-11-20T21:26:01.835+01:00

It's associated with St. Martin's Day, which in Germany is celebrated by parading with (usually home-made) lanterns.

And it's no more peculiar than carving a pumpkin, really. And prettier.

We are spending Christmas with my husband's fa...

2009-11-17T18:21:29.331+01:00

We are spending Christmas with my husband's family in Zermatt this year! I can't wait for some Swiss wonderfulness!

You blog will be a good primer, thanks!

I really like this Räbeliechtli. I like the explan...

2009-11-13T18:55:50.964+01:00

I really like this Räbeliechtli. I like the explanation from Wikipedia about it being someking of feast of light when it's dark (coming from the Celts and Roman). I feel that it helps the children get used to the evening being so dark, as they work on their lantern and singing for quite some time and look forward to their parade (Umzug). I saw it as an initiation to the dark evenings of winter for the children. In any case, it's really important for children and let's not forget that North American do carve pumpkins at around the same time!

Kay B. Elle

I saw some kids parading around with these two nig...

2009-11-13T13:13:04.511+01:00

I saw some kids parading around with these two nights ago and asked a Swiss friend what it was all about. She says that she remembers doing it as a kid, that it's a big tradition. When I asked her why, she had no clue! Keeping traditions for tradition's sake, I guess.

The Swiss have the most peculiar traditions. So ma...

2009-11-13T12:55:05.633+01:00

The Swiss have the most peculiar traditions. So many of them date from the days when it was mainly a farming country, and yet they are still celebrated, no fail, every year. Funny people :-)

Ooh, thanks for the heads-up. This sounds like a g...

2009-11-13T11:04:52.341+01:00

Ooh, thanks for the heads-up. This sounds like a great way to spend a Saturday.