Yesterday, 1st August was the Swiss National Day, a day to commemorate the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy. Unlike the Independence day celebrated in various countries which were colonies of the British or other European powers, this National day signifies unification of the country. August 1st was the date when three key cantons came together by swearing allegiance to each other, and over the next 500 years all other cantons of Switzerland were eventually unified. This alliance, at the time was formed as a strategy to counter the powerful Habsburgs, who ruled the Aargau canton of Switzerland. Interestingly, yesterday, on the occasion of the Swiss National Day, I hiked in Aargau, along the Aare river with a culmination in the Habsburg castle! I'll put up a picture story on that shortly.
The Swiss National Day is marked by fireworks across the country, with the chief attraction being the fireworks in Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen. Basel is also a highlight in the celebrations, with fireworks along the Rhine river. In scale and celebration, this is like a mini-Diwali, with people bursting firecrackers for 2 days! Quite similar to India, a lot of fireworks shops/tents had also sprung up in the past week, selling rockets, flower pots and the like.
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| Fireworks in Basel (source) | ..and one of the many make-shift crackers shops! |
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