August 1: How Switzerland Celebrates Its Birthday

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) On August 1 each year, Switzerland celebrates its own founding with bonfires, flags, and speeches. Customs range from traditional to modern – with fireworks still a big bone of contention. This content was published on July 31, 2025 - 16:00 5 minutes

After studying German and Scandinavian studies in Zurich and Oslo, I graduated from the MAZ School of Journalism and worked as a journalist for different Swiss dailies and as a freelance writer covering a wide range of topics. I have been with SWI swissinfo since 2023.

• More from this auth
• German Departme

As a member of our Multimedia team, my work focuses on everything to do with imagery - Photo editing, photo selection, editorial illustrations and social media. I studied graphic design in Zurich and London, 1997-2002. Since then I've worked as a graphic designer, art director, photo editor and illustrator.

• More from this auth
• Multimed

• Deutsch de So feiert die Schweiz am 1. August Geburtstag Original Read more: So feiert die Schweiz am 1. August Geburtsta
• 中文 zh 瑞士人怎么庆祝他们的国庆节 Read more: 瑞士人怎么庆祝他们的国庆
• Русский ru Как Швейцария отмечает день 1 Августа Read more: Как Швейцария отмечает день 1 Август

August 1, Swiss National Day, is celebrated in the country with a range of traditional customs. Some are older, some newer, and some are even a bit contrived – for example, the very date itself.

Other countries tend to set their national holiday to coincide with their founding constitution; for Switzerland, that was September 12, 1848. But in 1891, it was instead decided to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the federal charter of 1291.

Although the charter bears the year 1291, it doesn't specify a clear date on which it was signed. The story goes that on August 1, 1291, three men met on the Rütli meadow in central Switzerland to raise their fingers in oath and found the Swiss Confederation – though this is probably more of a legend than a hard truth.

The federal charter is also a point for historical debate, as this piece from our archives shows:

More More Historians question federal charter

This content was published on Aug 2, 2009 But historian Georges Andrey draws swissinfo's attention to a few inconsistencies in the roots of Switzerland's national day, which was created just over 100 years ago. Legend has it that on August 1, 1291, amid continuing Habsburg repression, representatives from three forest cantons around Lake Lucerne – Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden – met on the...

Read more: Historians question federal charte

MENAFN31072025000210011054ID1109869526