The Swiss Onion Festival Today!

[AnthemZ]

Just ate Onion and Cheese pies for dinner, it's tradition here on onion day. My wife always told me about it when we were going out, then after I moved here, I went to my first one. We were there at 6:00am, and there were so much people that you couldn't walk! Street after street!

On the YouTube clip, you can really see the downtown, I live out of the city in the farm lands.

Bern Onion Market


On the fourth Monday of November, the Swiss capital of Bern will host its yearly Zibele-Märit or Onion Market. During the one-day festival, Bernese citizens and visitors will be able to buy plaited strings of onions, onion sculptures, winter produce, nuts, and crafts from more than 700 stalls. As darkness falls, the streets of central Bern will erupt with partying that includes confetti battles, street jesters, and locals in onion costumes.

The Zibele-Märit dates back to the mid-19th Century, when the new railroad made it easy for farmers to bring their onions into the city, but it has its roots in a two-week autumn market that began in the 1500s. One legend claims that the original market was created as a reward to farmers who helped the Bernese clean up after a city fire in 1405.

Practical information

The Onion Market takes place in the city center, with stalls concentrated in the area between the railroad station and the Bundesplatz. The official hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., but many stalls are open for business by 5 a.m..

Vendors and shops sell ammunition for the Konfettischlacht, which begins at 4 p.m. and is open to warriors of all ages. (For that matter, you can buy confetti several months in advance at many Bernese shops.)

BBC video report!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7746507.stm

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Those flowers are from the onions as well? Or they grow both onions and flowers?

[AnthemZ]

They just weave them together for color.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Sounds fun

[AnthemZ]

Originally Posted by PorkChopSandwiches

Sounds fun

It's like being at the Rose Parade on the 31st., cold and hundreds of thousands of people!

[ocelot]

My eyes water just thinking about it.

[Lino]

i always miss the good stuff. I heard the onion festival is the new oktoberfest.

[Jezter]

People don't go bananas over onions....they go onions over, well, onions! Could be fun, probs a ton of good food out there. And beer.

[Meursault]

sounds like a nice tradition. I usually hate onions, but those onion and cheese pies seem to be worth a shot.

[AnthemZ]

Originally Posted by Meursault

sounds like a nice tradition. I usually hate onions, but those onion and cheese pies seem to be worth a shot.

Hey rokr, could you understand any of the Bernese? I know many of the non southern Deutsch have trouble with the dialect.

[Meursault]

it's not hard for me to understand the Swiss when they speak their brand of standard german, I get most of what they say. When they speak actual swiss german dialect, I get 50% of the meaning on a good day.

[AnthemZ]

Originally Posted by Meursault

it's not hard for me to understand the Swiss when they speak their brand of standard german, I get most of what they say. When they speak actual swiss german dialect, I get 50% of the meaning on a good day.

What's really weird is how much the dialect changes from canton to canton! We go to lottos (bingos) during the winter season, and the people that call out the numbers change every half hour and they sound as different as if we went to another country.

[Meursault]

that's because people in the various cantons used to keep to themselves a lot. Look at the terrain, it was a bitch to go places until they had the railway and cars, so the dialects are very diverse and deeply rooted in regional subculture.