In November, we celebrated Räbechilbi. This light festival has its origin as a celebration of bringing in the last crops before winter sets in (or something like that). First, we went to one of the largest festivals in Switzerland that has a parade of thousands of carved & lit turnips - which was quite magical. Most towns also have their own local celebrations, and we participated in our own neighborhood parade. Carrying a carved turnip lit with fire on a long stick - what 3 year old boy wouldn't want to do this! We first went to our community center where they supplied the turnips and carving tools and most importantly for us foreigners- someone to show us what exactly we were suppose to do. The next evening we met at a bonfire, lit our turnip lanterns and paraded through the park singing traditional songs. This was followed by - as any good (wintery)Swiss event is - soup, bread & glühwein (hot spiced wine). We ran into all our of neighbors, playgroup friends, etc. during the parade & really felt like part of the community - great event!
