Böögg Verbrennen

On the holiday Monday here in Winterthur I made my way to the Irish pub (Paddy Obrien's) right next door to the university and had a pint of Swizly (Swiss cider)! Not bad...a little sweet, but the good news is that all of my other favorites are on tap :)

That evening was the Burning Doll event (Böögg Verbrennen) I mentioned in my earlier blog entry. It was way more than I had expected. There was a giant pirate on a stake that was about 70 feet high and a huge amount of wood at the bottom. It was very pagan and a lot creepy...like burning "witches" at the stake hundreds of years ago. In Switzerland at the end of winter it is a tradition to light up a "snowman" which is build of straw, its body is filled with fireworks and its head is brimfull of explosives. The faster the Böögg's head blows up the better the next summer will be. This was a very slow burn (almost an hour) because the fire had trouble catching. I think the wood was wet as it has been quite rainy here. So...I guess that means a bad summer here in Winterthur for us :( I have included a video of the event. I apologize for the occasional swears in there...but those explosives were quite loud and unexpected and the blaze was HUGE :)