I have yet to see a Halloween decoration on a house here in Zug. There is a small display of Halloween merchandise in the Coop City grocery store:
And a bar just outside the Bahnhof has this going on:
On the Switzerland English Forum listserv there is a multiyear thread about Halloween in Switzerland. Prior to 2014 there were almost no Halloween activities in any part of Switzerland. From 2014 - through today there are more and more posts about Halloween activities happening around the country, though the most are concentrated in the Zurich area.
Yesterday, one person posted some interesting insights into how various holidays and traditions like Halloween came to be celebrated in Switzerland:
So it looks like it is a slow build of momentum for Halloween to be popular in die Schweiz, but we Americans are ready just in case we get any trick-or-treaters:
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I wonder what we will do with any leftovers? |
Even Smidgey is getting into the Halloween spirit:
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She's trying to chase a cat - who I think might be laughing at her outfit. |
The entire canton of Zug has tomorrow, Wednesday, 1 November, off for All Saint's Day. (Read here about the Catholic's influence on Switzerland, especially canton Zug.) My poem is based on what some may be recovering from on the day after Halloween:
Halloween Hangover
one too many trips
to the candy bowl
pick, pick, pick
today I feel sick -
my belly aches
ick, ick, ick!
©2017, Bridget Magee. All Rights Reserved.