Sechseläuten
Sechseläuten, in mid-April, is a traditional celebration in Zürich. In Winter, it was costumary that work would stop at sunset. As days grew longer in Spring and Summer, this would of course be too late, so work would stop when church clocks would strike six. Sechseläuten (the call of six) was the day in which people would switch from “Winter work days” to “Summer work days” (the holiday is now celebrated one month later than the original day).
For this celebration, the city guilds —societies which still exist, and whose membership is largely transmitted from parents to children— parade through the streets. At the end of the parade, a snowman (not made of actual snow) named Böögg is set to fire — it is said that the longer it takes for its firework-laden head to explode, the colder the next Summer will be.
