Eggs and rabbits have long been associated with Easter, in Switzerland as elsewhere. And here, like in other countries where Easter has become increasingly commercialised, the origins of this spring festival tend to fade into the background as Good Friday and Easter Monday become a welcome extension to the weekend and a chance to go on a short break.

Eggs and bunnies

Chocolate bunnies, coloured eggs and special Easter cakes (Osterfladen) in shop windows serve to remind children weeks before the event that Easter is the time to indulge in these goodies. Easter Sunday often starts off with an Easter-egg hunt, with children combing the house or garden, eager to fill their baskets with what the Easter bunny has left. In this respect, Switzerland is no different from many other European countries or the United States.

An unusual egg custom takes place in Zurich on Easter Monday: called "Zwanzgerle", children challenge adults to break their decorated eggs with a twenty cent coin. If the adult fails to do so, the child keeps the coin, but if the adult is successful, they get their coin back and the egg as well. This is generally a money-spinner for the children, but occasionally eggs change hands.

Religious festivals

In Mendrisio in the southern Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, the locals stage a performance of the Biblical Passion Play, complete with Roman soldiers and horseback trumpeters, on the last Thursday of Lent. This is followed on Good Friday with a much more sombre procession during which two sculptures, one of the dead Christ and one of his mother Mary, are carried through the streets.

On Good Friday in Romont in French-speaking Canton Fribourg, 'weeping women' carry scarlet cushions through the streets bearing the symbols of Christ's passion. These include the nails used in the crucifixion and the crown of thorns that was placed on his head, and also the handkerchief which St Veronica used to wipe Christ's brow as he carried the cross and which was miraculously imprinted with the image of his face. The streets of the town echo with chants and prayers taken up by believers.

Some villages in Canton Valais observe the old Easter tradition of distributing bread, cheese and wine.

Water

In Nyon, near Geneva, the town's fountains are decorated with flowers, ribbons and eggs - in line with an old German tradition of celebrating the melting of the snows and the return of water to the fountains. A similar custom also exists in Bischofszell, in Canton Thurgau.