We will have a nice summer 2009

Yesterday the Zurich Sechselaeuten took place. A big parade in historic costumes along the Bahnhofstrasse and the Limmatquai. The many Zunfte (guilds) come all in different costumes and are greeted by big crowds of people. Most of the guilds invite Swiss politicians, members of public authorities or company executives to join their group. Women and children (and sometimes men) bring their favourites flowers.

Then, and that is the most impressive part, a huge snowman called Böögg (Boogg) sitting on a large pile of wood gets set to fire starting at 6pm. The guilds horsemen ride around the scene. Everyone sees how the snowman starts to catch fire. Explosives hidden in it's inside detonate until finally the snowman's head crashes. The time until the head explodes indicates what the summer will be like. This year it took 12 minutes and 55 seconds, quite an average time. This should result in quite good summer wheather.

See pictures of the Sechselaeuten (some statistics on the duration of the snowman's fire in the German version Wiki) and visit in one of the coming years.