Today is a half day of vacation for many of the workers of Zurich. They all have the afternoon off so they can go watch children shoot at things. The holiday is called Knabenschiessen, which literally means ‘boy shooting’ (despite the name, girls are allowed to shoot at things too, at least since 1991). This tradition apparently dates back to the 17th century, when shooting skills probably actually came in handy during day-to-day life.
In honor of Knabenschiessen (or Chnaabeschüüsse in Swiss German) there was a large carnival in Zurich all weekend long, complete with rides, sugary deep fried foods, and carnies (I’m pretty sure this part dates back to the 1600s as well).
I’ll be skipping the actual shooting today, since I got my fill of fried foods and slowly-moving crowds yesterday. We visited the carnival and marveled at how similar it was to an American carnival, with just a couple subtle differences poking through. Instead of funnel cakes and candy apples, the big food items being hawked were apple fritters (Öpfelchüechli) and garlic bread (Chnoblibrot). That, and most of the crowd wasn’t obese.
It’s sights like this that really make me proud to be an American….
But seriously, why were there so many American-themed booths there? I don’t even think American carnivals are this American.
yum – that looks amazing, the food and the carnival… how much fun!