Berchtold Day in Switzerland

Berchtold Day (Berchtoldstag or Bärzelitag) on January 2 is an Alemannic tradition that is celebrated in some areas of Switzerland. The holiday's name does not refer to a Saint (there is no St. Berchtold) but is derived from the verb berchten – meaning “to walk around, asking for food”.

What do people do?

Berchtold Day is a light-hearted, sociable event. People meet in pubs and restaurants to exchange good wishes for the new year. In some areas, old traditions that have elsewhere been discontinued due to the Protestant Reformation are still being kept alive. In Hallwil in the canton of Aargau one can still witness the Bärzeli, a parade of dressed up and masked figures symbolizing concepts like fertility, age, ugliness, wisdom, and vice.

Public life

Berchtold Day is a public holiday in the following cantons:

• Bern
• Thurgau
• Vaud
• Aargau (some communities)

In the canton of Jura, January 2 is a “silent day” (Ruhetag).
In the following cantons, offices, banks, schools and businesses may also be closed:

• Fribourg
• Glarus
• Graubünden
• Lucerne
• Neuchâtel
• Obwalden
• Schaffhausen
• Solothurn
• Zug
• Zurich

Background

As the Berchtoldstag is an Alemannic tradition, it is usually only celebrated in areas that boast a predominanty Alemannic population. This includes the above-mentioned areas of Switzerland, as well as Liechtenstein and the Alsace region in France.

Berchtold Day Observances

Other holidays in January 2013 in Switzerland

• New Year's Day ―Tuesday, January 1, 2013
• Epiphany ―Sunday, January 6, 2013