Räbelichtli book

We got a nice picture book about this Swiss tradition. One of the cool things about the book is that it has recipes on the back end page. Our favorite is the Bappe (see below).

Räbenbappe

600 g turnip

300 g potatoes

1 dl water

1 T salt

20 g butter

1 dl cream

optional pinch: nutmeg and/or cumin

Wash and peel turnips and potatoes and cut into small pieces. Boil water, add salt, turnips, and potatoes. Cook for about 15 minutes. Drain off the water. Stir in butter and cream, and season with salt and spices.

Ich geh mit meiner Laterne

We learned this song to sing for our parade:

You can listen to the tune here.

Räbelichtliumzug

Räbelichtli parade

We joined our school friends for the Räbelichtliumzug (little turnip lantern parade), complete with a marching band and perhaps 200 kids. We marched through the neighborhood streets and sang songs in a group at the end to celebrate the season.

Räbelichtli

Here in Zurich, to celebrate St. Martin's Day, all the kids carve turnips and turn them into lanterns (Räbelichtli) for a nighttime parade. Zoë and Annie carved theirs at school and Steve and Heidi couldn't resist carving their own, too.

St. Martin's Day

The Swiss don't celebrate Halloween much, but around the same time of year, they have a fun parade for St. Martin's Day. You can read about St. Martin's Day here. It's a way to celebrate the fall and the coming of winter.

Meow