Swiss Confederation Day

It commemorates an event that happened this day in 1291 when three forest cantons (canton refers to a separate state with its own national assembly and executive power) Unterwalden, Uri and Schwyz announced eternal alliance and union.

The document, in fact, was not only the Declaration of Independence, but the treaty of mutual defense due to possible aggression by the Roman Empire. Subsequently the "eternal alliance" was joined by other cantons. They had no opposition, however, the formal recognition of Switzerland took place only in 1648, when its independence from the Roman Empire was officially confirmed by the Treaty of Westphalia.

In 1994 the Confederation Day was declared a public holiday. On August 1 many children and adults rejoice in anticipation of fireworks, lanterns and bonfires on the tops of the mountains, which are in addition to solemn speeches are attributes of holiday. The tradition of making a bonfire on the tops of the mountains has its roots in the Middle Ages, when chain of guard hills was constructed along territorial boundaries, signal fires on tops indicated approach of enemy. According to legend, these fires on the mountains between Geneva and Biel Lakes scared off the barbarians sneaked into the territory. Seeing the glare on the shimmering surface of water, they thought it was edge of the Earth, and that road leads straight to heaven.