Zofinger children's festival
The Zofinger Children's Festival is one of four traditional youth festivals in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland . It takes place on the first Friday in July in Zofingen . In today's usual form, this happened for the first time in 1810, although the tradition itself dates back to the 16th century.
The children's festival starts with the Zapfenstreich concert the evening before, followed by a festival in the old town. The actual festival on Friday is opened with the vigil at seven in the morning with cannon shots on the Heitern and a serenade by the town music and the drum club in the old town. Then the parade of the school children through the old town takes place, which is interrupted by a celebration in the town church with songs, pieces of music and speeches . In the afternoon, the cadet maneuver follows on the Heitern (re-enactment of a battle between the cadets and “freemen”) with subsequent demonstrations by the schools. After a banquet, the festival ends with a torchlight procession down to town. Traditional culinary components of the festival are the Wurstweggen, the children's festival cake and the white wine from the Zofingen town hall cellar for the banquet. In addition, the town music and the drum club play the Zofinger March .
The Zofingen Cadet Corps was founded at the beginning of the 19th century and, alongside that of Lenzburg, is one of the last still existing in its original form in Switzerland. In the past, the cadet system was a year-round institution and was mandatory for boys, but from the 1960s onwards it was reduced to the cultural components of the children's festival. Students today can opt for the Cadet System or an alternative program. Since 2000 girls have also been welcome with the cadets. Outside the children's festival, the cadet corps appeared more recently in 2006 as part of the guest canton of Aargau at Zurich's Sechseläuten and in 2007 on the TV program SF bi de Lüt .
The children's festival week gets its unofficial start since 1997 on the previous Monday with the event “New Orleans meets Zofingen” with various concerts from the fields of jazz and blues in the old town. Other traditional Aarau youth festivals take place in Aarau ( Maienzug ), Brugg ( Rutenzug ) and Lenzburg (youth festival).
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Individual evidence
- ^ New Orleans meets. Accessed February 16, 2020 .