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SWISS TRADITIONS

Which Swiss cantons don’t get public holidays over Easter?

When it comes to public holidays in Switzerland over Easter there are some cantons who don't have the usual days off.

Published: 1 March 2024 10:55 CET
Updated: 18 March 2024 12:21 CET
Which Swiss cantons don't get public holidays over Easter?
One canton in Switzerland has no public holidays over easter. Photo by Gabe Pierce on Unsplash

Whether you’re planning on making an Osterbäumli, smash eggs with friends and family, or bake an Easter Zopf, here are the Easter holidays and the cantons that celebrate them in Switzerland.

Friday March 29th: Good Friday

Almost all Swiss cantons (barring Ticino and Valais) recognise Good Friday as a public holiday. Good Friday is supposed to be a day of fasting and abstinence rather than a holiday in Catholicism, with Ticino being a Catholic canton.

However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any celebrations, with notable processions taking place through the streets of the village of Mendrisio in Ticino; while in Romont, Fribourg, the ceremony of the ‘Pleureuses’ takes place every year.

Sunday 31st March: Easter Sunday

Technically, Easter Sunday is also a national holiday. However, as is the case in Switzerland, due to it always falling on a Sunday, there’s no public holiday and you don’t get an extra weekday holiday in lieu.

On Easter Sunday in Switzerland, you can expect to see children hunting for brightly painted eggs and chocolate, and German-speaking Switzerland also has the ‘Eiertütsche’, which involves hitting two Easter eggs against each other.

Monday April 1st: Easter Monday

Easter Monday is also a national holiday in most of Switzerland, but not in Valais. 

Who gets the least holidays?

Commiserations if you work in Valais, the only one of Switzerland’s 26 cantons not to have any official holidays during the Easter period.

So bad luck for those workers who live in Valais although as the Valais4You websites makes clear: “Although days before or after the major Christian holidays such as Good Friday, Easter Monday and Whit Monday as well as Boxing Day are not official holidays in Valais, they can be granted as days off by individual employers.”

Joyeuses Pâques, Frohe Ostern and Buona Pasqua!

Have a read of how the Swiss celebrate Easter – including some of Switzerland’s more bizarre Easter traditions…

And if you’re planning your holidays beyond Easter, find out what other days you’ll be getting off work this year based on where you live in Switzerland.

READ ALSO: What days will get off work in Switzerland in 2024?

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WEATHER

Will Switzerland be visited by ‘Ice Saints’ this year?

Ascension is not the only annual happening in the country in May, as Switzerland also ‘celebrates’ another 'chilling' event this month.

Published: 8 May 2024 14:20 CEST
Will Switzerland be visited by 'Ice Saints' this year?

From May 11th to the 15th, a meteorological event takes place each year in Switzerland.

It “observes”, though admittedly not on scientific basis, a centuries-old weather phenomenon called “Ice Saints”.

What exactly is it?

As its name suggests, it is related to saints, as well as ice and frost.

The saints in question are St Mamertus, St Pancras, St Servatius and St Boniface.

According to a weather lore, once these Ice Saints have passed through Switzerland in the middle of May, frost will no longer pose a threat to farmers and their land.

As the official government meteorological service MeteoSwiss explains it, “spring frosts have been a regular occurrence for centuries, giving rise to the traditional belief that a blast of cold air often arrives in the middle of May. Over time, this piece of weather lore became known as the Ice Saints.”

Fact versus myth

You may be wondering whether the Ice Saints lore actually has basis in reality.

Records, which date back to 1965 and originate from the Geneva-Cointrin, Payerne, and Zurich-Kloten weather stations, “clearly show that, over the long-term average, frost directly above the soil is only a regular occurrence up until the middle of April”, MeteoSwiss says. “After that, the frequency with which ground frost occurs progressively declines to almost zero by the end of May.”

“We can conclude, therefore, that there is no evidence in Switzerland to confirm the Ice Saints as a period in May when ground frost is more common.”

However, MeteoSwiss does concede that “ground frost is nevertheless a regular occurrence throughout May as a whole…having occurred at least once or twice in May every year, and in around 40 percent of the years there were more than two days in May with ground frost.”

What about this year?

MeteoSwiss weather forecast for the next seven days indicates that, this year too, no frost will be present on the ground in mid-May.

In fact, temperatures through much of Switzerland will be in double digits, reaching between 18C and 25C, depending on the region.

You can see what to expect in your area, here. 

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