St. Gallen Children's Festival

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On the children's festival area, the students present their rehearsed rounds.

The St. Gallen Children's Festival is a festive event in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland . It has been held every three years since 1824. At the children's festival, the schoolchildren from the municipal schoolhouses in festive robes parade through the city to the children's festival area to put on various performances. More than 30,000 people gather on the large meadow above the city. The festival was included in the list of living traditions in Switzerland .

history

The first children's festival in 1824

The first children's festival took place on September 28, 1824. It emerged from various older festive customs during the school reforms at the beginning of the 19th century. The monastery students of the monastery of St. Gall had already Pope Gregory IV. Bestowed in the 9th century a day of games, sports and fun. The pupils of the city schools also knew a similar festival, the Gregorius and Rutenfest . As the closing ceremony after their last school examination, the boys knew the harrows , a kind of pattern for arms service. Until 1946, when nationalism and enthusiasm for the military were still widespread and were actively supported and promoted by politics in the course of the world wars, the children's festival was therefore also a military parade. In the course of the flourishing of the textile and embroidery industry in the city and canton of St. Gallen, the festival was characterized by colorful and elegant clothes , the students presented the creations of the latest fashion trends and the audience also wore clothes appropriate to the festival.

In 1914, during a children's festival year, the First World War broke out. This has had a lasting influence on and shaped the social and economic structure in Gallusstadt. The boom of the embroidery industry came to an abrupt end, as textile exports, on which large parts of the population lived, suddenly came to an almost complete standstill. The demand for luxury clothes sank to zero and poverty and unemployment dominated the city and countryside. Due to the crisis years that continued after the war and the poor financial situation of the city, the festival was not held after 1914.

In 1927, the economic situation was a bit better again, the old custom was remembered and enough money was collected to get the authorities to hold the children's festival again. Now, however, another problem arose: in 1918, St. Gallen had incorporated the former suburbs of Tablat and Straubenzell , which more than tripled the number of pupils in the municipal schools. 8,000 children should take part in the parade this year. But the party evidently went off perfectly, although it had definitely become a major event. Ernst Hausknecht wrote in 1928: "In line with the new times, the decoration of the train had been redesigned, it should be youthful down to the last detail." The students also carried school flags with them for the first time. Each of the municipal school houses has its own coat of arms , which is proudly carried in front of the train of students. Gradually, however, the embroidered clothes that had previously dominated the train were to take a back seat, as Art Nouveau was slowly but surely going out of style.

During the Second World War , the festival was again not held, but when it was resumed in 1947, the embroidery wardrobe experienced a kind of renaissance. The old clothes are said to have looked a bit old and musty, but after years of textile shortage they were a welcome change.

The festival today

The children's pageant is a colorful affair. The pupils wear clothes that reflect the traditional importance of the city's textiles

Today the festival takes place at regular intervals every three years towards the end of the school year (May / June). In 2012 - exceptionally only after four years, since the Swiss Federal Music Festival took place in St. Gallen in 2011 - the children's festival was held on June 21st. In addition to colorful creations and panels, flags and pennants, St. Gallen embroidery is still on display. The children's festival bratwurst is also part of the children's festival. It is officially the largest form of St. Gallen bratwurst . For some years now, however, a smaller version has also been offered at the children's festival, as many children do not even like to eat the children's festival bratwurst.

A longer period of good weather is required for the festival to take place. The children's festival area must be completely dry and the weather must be splendid at the children's festival itself. Only the first and last possible execution date are known in advance. During this time, the city lives in permanent makeshift arrangements. Every appointment, even in business life, is only provisionally entered in the agenda «... if the children's party does not take place.»

On the children's festival itself, the media announce the good news early in the morning that the big festival can begin or that another postponement is necessary. At six o'clock in the morning, three gunshots each from the Falkenburg, from the Menzlenhang and from the Burenbüchel traditionally open the festival custom. Three hours later, the large parade of the city school buildings begins (the students from the cantonal schools do not march and do not have school vacations) to the children's festival area (route: Spisertor - Spisergasse - Multergasse - Rösslitor - St. Leonhardstrasse - Schützengasse - Poststrasse - Neugass durchbruch - Neugasse - Marktgasse - Bohl - Marktplatz - Schibenertor - Blumenbergplatz - Zwinglistrasse - Winkelriedstrasse - Tigerbergstrasse). Today, the Flade no longer takes part in the move, although the school played a key role in the development of the festival custom. On the children's festival area, the pupils present their rehearsed compositions, colorful rounds and dances on several stages. In addition to the stages, people, authorities and guests can happily see and be seen. The last visitors leave the children's festival area long after midnight.

In 2018, the Children's Festival took place on Wednesday, June 20 after the date had been postponed eleven times. Around 5,500 students celebrated together with around 500 teachers, 550 musicians and 30,000 festival visitors.

See also

literature

  • Margrit Thüler, Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund (Ed.): Festivals in the Alpine region . Migros-Presse, Zurich, 1997. ISBN 3-9521210-0-2 , p. 181.
  • Hans Stricker, School Administration of the City of St. Gallen (Ed.): Our City of St. Gallen, a geographical-historical local history , Tschudy, St. Gallen 1979.

Web links

Commons : St. Gallen Children's Festival  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On Customs in the Canton of St. Gallen. In: The Canton of St. Gallen - Landscape, Community, Home. Rorschach 1985, ISBN 3-85819-084-5
  2. ↑ Children's party postponed. Retrieved July 27, 2009 .
  3. ↑ [1]

Coordinates: 47 ° 25 ′ 45 "  N , 9 ° 22 ′ 10"  E ; CH1903:  seven hundred forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty-eight  /  254958