Zürich’s Big B, forecasting the summer since 1525

Image Source: Twitter

By Vallari Shah.

During winter, I almost never step out of the house, for literally anything. So the few times that I do, have to be totally worth all the time and effort of dressing up in layers of warm clothing, the chilling winds blowing in my face, my fingertips freezing and hurting from all the cold and the enduring of the undeniable wearing down effect of the winter on my body.

But there’s little you can do to evade the call of the magnificent Sechseläuten and the great Böögg! A long standing Zürich tradition, the Sechseläuten (translates to - the six o clock ringing of the bells) or the Spring Festival, is one of the most spectacular festivals of the city. It is marked by an elaborate parade of more than 3500 members (some on horseback) of Zürich’s erstwhile merchant guilds and the burning of the Böögg (Snowman / Bogeyman) is the highlight of this day long celebration.

There was an air of excitement and revelry that I felt in the train, which was flooded with a lot more people than one would usually see otherwise. Of course, everyone was heading to the Sechseläutenplatz, like I was, eager to know the weather prediction of the Böögg - the amount of time it takes to burn completely decides how good or bad the summer that year will be. There was also a legitimate online betting competition that had been going on since a few weeks, inviting people to guess the number of minutes and seconds it would take for the big B to burn this year.

As I got off at the Stadelhofen station, the world of Zürich for that winter day seemed to have turned upside down. The otherwise peaceful walkway to the Sechseläutenplatz was now swarmed with food stalls of all sorts – Bratwurst (sausage), Soft Eis (softy), Zuckerwatte (cotton candy), Heliumballons (helium balloons), Spielzeuge (toys), Brötchen (small breads), Bier (beer) and Kuchen (cakes). All trams on that route had been cancelled for the day and the people who otherwise walked no where else except on footpaths, were now spread all over the road. People were talking animatedly in Swiss German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Tigrinya, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Sinhala, Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Turkish. The nip in the air had been replaced by the sheer warmth of diversity and I couldn’t help but feel a little too excited myself. As I waded through the crowd and reached the outside of the enclosure, I saw the marvelous 11ft tall Böögg, perched on a 33ft high bonfire!

Senior citizens, families, groups of college students, couples, tourists, all were thronging the barricades and were standing on rooftops and balconies of adjoining buildings. A helicopter and a drone camera were hovering in the air above the Platz.

As the clock ticked closer to 6pm, the crowds began cheering, the drums were beating, the guilds resumed parading around the bonfire and finally the fire was lit. A hundred, and probably even thousand, hands were up in the air with their cellphones recording the spectacle. A couple of minutes into the burning and suddenly a firecracker within the Böögg burst and blew off his hat that sent the crowd into an applause. The Böögg is usually fitted with a few firecrackers to speed up the burning and create drama when they go off unannounced! The big B was bursting up in vigorous flames and within 20 minutes he was scorched. Specks of his ash were swirling about, resting on people’s hair, clothes, bags, food.

What amused me a great deal is its striking similarity to the popular Hindu tradition of Holika Dahan which marks the decline of Winter and ushering of Spring, as does the burning of the Böögg. The practice of on-lookers roasting their sausages on the dying embers of the Böögg is the same as that of roasting Jau (barley) in the fire of Holika. There is equal festivity, music and community gathering during both festivals.

On my way back home, as I passed crowds of people of all colours, tongues and faiths, I couldn’t help but wonder how alike we all were in our celebrations and traditions, despite being divided by lands and oceans and mountains and valleys. There is no political boundary that can stand in the way we unite as people with common shared experiences of community, humanity and joy.

(Vallari Shah: She doesn't waste her time looking if a glass is half full or half empty. She's the who pours into the glass)