Part of the Swiss tradition: the Easter egg toss. (archive picture)
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Egg hunts, Sunday family dinners and chocolate bunnies – these are well-known Easter customs. Switzerland also has its very own traditions. Here is an overview.
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In Bern, many people meet on Easter Sunday for the “Eiertütschen”, where boiled eggs are beaten against each other.Swiss Easter customs combine Christian and pagan traditions, such as the egg as a symbol of life and resurrection.Some old rituals, such as holy graves or Tapolets rattles, have almost disappeared.
Every year on Easter Sunday, the Kornhausplatz in Bern is transformed into an egg race arena. The population gathers with a boiled egg in hand for the “Eiertütschen” (or “Eierklopfen”). In this tradition, two boiled eggs are beaten against each other. The aim is to break the shell of the opponent.
The canton of Bern has included this custom in its register of living traditions. This Alemannic tradition is one of many Easter customs that persist in Switzerland.
These come from a dual heritage, a religious and a pagan, i.e. polytheistic tradition. They date back to the time before the Judeo-Christian heritage or have developed in parallel with it, according to Luc Bulundwe, Assistant Professor of New Testament at the University of Geneva, in an interview with Keystone-SDA.
“The Christian festival focuses on the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, a symbol of eternal life and hope,” he says. Pagan customs, on the other hand, celebrated the beginning of spring with the return of light and the renewal of nature.
Eggs, the heart of Easter
This dual heritage is also reflected in the symbols. According to Bulundwe, eggs and rabbits represent fertility, life and abundance. “There is a parallel between the chick hatching from its shell and Christ rising from the grave.”
The egg established itself as a central symbol of Easter as early as the Middle Ages. Christians were not allowed to eat eggs during Lent. However, the hens continued to lay eggs. “To preserve them, the eggs were boiled and even decorated to distinguish them from the other eggs that had been laid in the meantime,” explains Luc Bulundwe.
Even today, they are still painted with various vegetable peelings or other artificial dyes.
One question remains unanswered: Who hides the eggs in our gardens? In Germany and Switzerland, it’s the Easter bunny. In France, it is more likely to be the flying bells that have traveled to Rome before Easter, where they are blessed by the Pope.
Regional traditions
The eggs are also brought out in Zurich. Young and old gather in the middle of the old town on Easter Monday for the “Zwänzgerle”. An adult throws a 20-centime coin onto a hard-boiled egg held by a child. If he manages to break the shell, he keeps the egg, otherwise the prize goes to the child.
In addition to the church services and the fires lit for the occasion, Holy Week is also marked by processions. The most famous is still that of Mendrisio (TI), which looks back on over 400 years of tradition. At nightfall on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, a procession passes through the town and re-enacts the Passion of Christ. These processions are part of UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage.
In Romont (FR), the “Pleureuses” (lamenters) parade through the streets on Good Friday: around twenty women dressed in black, led by a cross-bearer, carrying the instruments of suffering – crown of thorns, nails, hammer, rods and whip. The first traces of the “Pleureuses” of Romont date back to 1456.
Easter traditions that have disappeared
Not all Easter traditions have survived the test of time. Luc Bulundwe mentions in particular the monumental Holy Sepulchres, which have now disappeared in Switzerland. In the Middle Ages, tombs and a doll representing the body of Christ who died on the cross were placed in churches. Residents and children kept vigil until his resurrection, symbolized by the raising of the figure of Jesus. This custom gradually died out from the 1950s onwards.
The tapolets, giant rattles that replace the silence of the bells in the days leading up to Easter, are also played less and less often. However, their sounds can still be heard in Grimentz (VS), Cressier (NE), Rue (FR) and Romont (FR).