Being an adopted Swiss Bernese by
day, Doug was strongly encouraged to attend the Zeibelmärit, the onion market
that is held every year in Bern on the 4th Monday of November. After spending Thanksgiving evening at a
French restaurant in Lausanne (missing our family), what a better way to
embrace fall and the dropping temperatures than take a short overnight get-away
to Bern.
The history of the onion market goes
back to the 15th century, where the nearby Fribourgians allegedly
came to the Bernese rescue after a major fire, and they thanked them by having
a market to celebrate together and allow them to sell their crops. Ever since, the Swiss capital of Bern
has been having an annual celebration of the mighty onion, and also its related
cousin, garlic. On this day, it’s all things onion –
braids of all sizes, decorations, every imaginable food made with onions – and
to wash it all down, beer and spiced wine.
We arrived on Sunday, knowing that
the festival starts at about 5am on Monday, and is in full swing by 6am. Everyone talked about “beating the
crowds”, which actually would have meant going out at 4am, because by the time
we left our hotel at 6am, the streets were barely passable. All I can say is that it was surreal –
throngs of people walking around half asleep, vendors over about 5 blocks of
the city center. By early
afternoon, most of the onion goods were sold, and the beer and wine drinking
take a more serious turn. So did
the confetti throwing (sold by the bag) and the head bonking with a plastic
mallet, which can happen at any moment.
The afterschool gangs of Swiss youths were particularly enthusiastic,
and their elders not much better. I
witnessed adults grabbing arms, pretending to be mad or even chase them
down. It was mayhem…
Can't forget about the garlic!
One thing that I was struck by was the un-Swissness of the confetti that completely covered the old
town of Bern. By the time we took
the train back to Lausanne, we had spread the confetti to the train, the metro,
the bus, up our stairs and into our apartment. I was still cleaning it out today. All day I was imagining how many Swiss, German, and French
homes have Bern confetti decorating their corridors. But I’ll bet they don’t last long – that’s just not the
Swiss way.
Saw this ad - feeling at home in the land of Meiers!
Another Meier sighting!
The history of the onion market goes
back to the 15th century, where the nearby Fribourgians allegedly
came to the Bernese rescue after a major fire, and they thanked them by having
a market to celebrate together and allow them to sell their crops. Ever since, the Swiss capital of Bern
has been having an annual celebration of the mighty onion, and also its related
cousin, garlic. On this day, it’s all things onion –
braids of all sizes, decorations, every imaginable food made with onions – and
to wash it all down, beer and spiced wine.
Yes, we bought some braids - had to look at them all first before we made our choice. The brown cakes are decorated Lebkuchen (gingerbread) - we had to buy some of that too!
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