Escalade

As mentioned before, Halloween is not celebrated in Switzerland, however, there is a dress-up holiday celebrated in the canton of Geneva in mid-December each year called Escalade. The town celebrates the defeat of the attacking troops of the Duke of Savoy in 1602. As the story goes, the troops were climbing the city walls when the women of the town dumped cauldrons of hot soup onto the advancing troops to knock them back. The Genevois commemorate the event each year with chocolate marmites (cauldrons) filled with marzipan candies in the shape of various vegetables. You then smash the marmite while reciting "Ainsi périssent les ennemis de la République!" (Thus perish the enemies of the Republic) Children also dress up in costumes - similar to Halloween. There is a race among other festivities but I think the highlight was the torchlight parade that goes through the Old Town on Sunday evening at dusk. It was pretty cool. People dress in period costumes and march and ride horses through the Old Town. Because of the cobblestone streets, you can hear the horses clattering before they come into view and the smell of gunpowder and torches is all around. I took a couple photos but they don't really do it justice. I will try to get some better ones next year.