Swiss National Day
| Swiss National Day | |
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| Official name | German: Schweizer Bundesfeier; French: Fête nationale suisse; Italian: Festa nazionale svizzera; Romansh: Fiasta naziunala svizra |
| Also called | First of August |
| Observed by | Switzerland |
| Significance | Anniversary of the Federal Charter of 1291 |
| Date | 1 August |
| Next time | 1 August 2017 |
| Frequency | annual |
The Swiss National Day (German: Schweizer Bundesfeiertag; French: Fête nationale suisse; Italian: Festa nazionale svizzera; Romansh: Fiasta naziunala svizra) is the national holiday of Switzerland, set on 1 August. It has been an official national holiday since 1994 only, although the day had been used for the celebration of the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy for the first time in 1891, and than repeated annually since 1899.
The date is inspired by the date of the Federal Charter of 1291, Pacte du Grutli, placed in "early August", when "three Alpine cantons swore the oath of confederation" (Schwyz, Uri and Nidwalden), an action which later came to be regarded as the foundation of Switzerland." The document is one of several dozen pacts attested for the territory of Switzerland in the period of the mid-13th to mid-14th century. The foundation of the Old Swiss Confederacy had been mostly associated with the Bund of Brunnen of 1315, or with the Rütlischwur, dated to 1307 by Aegidius Tschudi.
The Federal Charter of 1291 first assumed great importance in a report by the Federal Department of Home Affairs of 21 November 1889, suggesting a celebration in Bern in 1891 that would combine the city's 700th anniversary with the Confederacy's 600th anniversary.
The date of the Federal Charter came to replace the formerly more prominent, traditional date of 8 November Rütlischwur, 1307 in popular consciousness in the 20th century, specifically after the 650th anniversary celebrations of 1941.
1 August is celebrated each year with paper lantern parades, bonfires, hanging strings of Swiss flags, fireworks and competitive rifle shooting matches.
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Wikipedia