New Years Eve
The New Year's Eve is a Zurich old year custom . Originally it was celebrated on the morning of December 31st, around 1900 - after the introduction of Christmas holidays - on the morning of December 23rd and today on the last day of school before the Christmas holidays by the school children of the Canton of Zurich in Switzerland .
Original meaning
In the early morning the children swarmed through the streets of the city, later also through the streets of the villages. Whoever got up last or came to school was laughed at as New Year's Eve and clad in a white nightgown and a sleeping cap, being dragged noisily through the streets or school in a handcart. In certain places he also had to pay for the calendar for the new year. Over time, before the start of school, which was brought forward to 7 am, the children marched through the streets noisily to "drive away" the old year.
historical development
While in 1920 the hustle and bustle began at midnight, the beginning was later set at 5 a.m. at the earliest. According to a custom that became common in the 1930s, groups who were particularly loud or who came up with a serenade were given Swiss German Prochnigs for "fragments of confectionery" from citizens who were awakened by it, business people and in particular from bakers , who were given an edible drink Obolus rewarded. The generosity of business people declined noticeably in the course of the 1970s and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung complained in 1974: "The old customary law that bakers in particular are obliged to pay an edible obolus if they are serenaded seems to have been forgotten." The custom of having breakfast together in the classroom at the school was increasingly taking the place of demand . The noise level of children and the noise from self-made noise instruments, ratchets , bells and kitchen utensils has also decreased significantly in recent years . The reputation already documented for the 19th century: Silväschter stood uus, stretch d 'Bäi to bed uus! seems to have been forgotten at the end of the 20th century.
The New Year's Eve book was also a present. Created on a private initiative from 1840, the Zurich Teachers Association published three versions for the three school levels from 1872 . For years they were edited by well-known writers and published until 1966. Subsequently, instead of the New Year's Eve booklet, an SJW booklet was given away in some school communities . The editors included the dialect poets Eduar Schönenberger , Ernst Eschmann , Rudolf Hägni and Otto Schaufelberger .
In addition to the racket, there are also harmless pranks on New Year's Eve, which are carried out under cover of darkness. Examples from the second half of the 20th century should be mentioned: Wrapping cars with toilet paper, ringing the doorbell of someone else's door or blocking door bells with toothpicks, hanging out garden gates, and brushing door handles with toothpaste. However, these pranks degenerated over time, especially by "night boys" who are no longer of school age. In some places this has led the authorities to ban New Year's Eve in order to prevent the sometimes considerable damage to property . The school children suffer; the "night boys", on the other hand, are obviously not impressed by the prohibitions.
literature
- Brigitte Bachmann-Geiser : The Zurich school New Year's Eve. Hug, Zurich 1984. (= New Year's Gazette of the Zurich General Music Society)
- Lis Weil: Bitzli and the big wolf. Schweizer Spiegel, Zurich 1960.
- Peter Ziegler: Children in Zurich. Education Office, Zurich 1986.
Individual evidence
- ↑ NZZ, December 24, 1974.