One of the largest turnip parties in Switzerland happens to only be about an hour from us in Richterswil. To say it’s an event that takes over the city, is an understatement. Every year they process around 30 tons of turnips (this works out to around 55,000 turnips) into ornate lanterns. The turnips are then displayed in store windows, people’s homes, hung from trees, outlined on streets and added to around 45 human-powered, hand-pushed floats and paraded through the town in a 2-ish mile parade route.
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| From the town's website, they start passing out turnips the week before the festival for everyone in town to carve & prepare |
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| It takes just a few turnips to put on this festival |
We took the train and discovered about 30 other expat friends. The Americans basically took up an entire train carriage by the time we arrived at the festival. To the extent that the ticket inspector checked the first two family’s rail passes then moved on in his overwhelmed-ness of the noise that only Americans bring to a party.
In the daylight, popup concerts from various brass bands occur alongside all the open markets and food vendors. You can wander through the town checking out the detailed carving on all the turnips.
In the daylight, popup concerts from various brass bands occur alongside all the open markets and food vendors. You can wander through the town checking out the detailed carving on all the turnips.
When it gets dark the magic really starts. The tea lights in the turnips are lit, the village center becomes a fairytale backdrop.
And then about 6:30, the town cuts all lights to the entire city and the parade begins. The schools and associations of the municipality of Richterswil pull the floats along the route. The parade lasted about 40 minutes and really did feel like everyone in the entire county had come out to participate in it.
I may not totally understand the tradition, but it sure was fun to take part in it.
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