Christmas Around the World: Switzerland
For Day 2 of our Christmas Around the World learning journey, I chose to study about Switzerland. I was blessed to be able to spend a week traveling Europe with my mom and sister a few years back, and Switzerland quickly became a bucket list place I never knew I needed to go to! The Alps mountain range and the picturesque villages and farmhouses that dot the land, along with the many turquoise lakes make you wonder if what you’re seeing is even real. It is stunningly gorgeous and I dream about going back someday!
We began by learning about Swiss geography and culture. The Swiss are famous for their Red Cross flag, cheese, chocolate, watches, and knives! Switzerland is made up of 26 cantons, which are similar to a ‘state’. There is no official capital, though most government buildings are located in Bern. Most of Switzerland is covered by the Alps mountain range. Just for fun, here are some photos of when I visited Switzerland!
What We Did
Christmas in Switzerland seems very cozy and fun! The Swiss celebrate Advent and many towns have a ‘real’ Advent calendar where each home in the village decorates one of their windows for a specific night of Advent- so while your window may be decorated for the first night of Advent, your neighbor’s window is decorated for the second night and so on.
Christmas markets across Europe are very popular. Switzerland has some of the most highly rated and attended markets, where they sell trinkets and mulled wines and ciders, and fresh pastries.
Christmas trees are usually bought on Christmas Eve and decorated. Children are often caught caroling, and the Swiss have large Christmas parades where they dress in masks that are meant to ward off evil spirits.
Most Swiss people eat cheese fondue daily, so Christmas is no exception. We made our own cheese fondue and while I wasn’t a fan (I wasn’t in Switzerland either), the kids liked it! We also made sure we had some Swiss chocolate as well!
We read a lot online about Christmas in Switzerland, and watched some videos. Rick Steves has a nice documentary about European Christmas, so we made sure to check out his segment on his Christmas he spent in Switzerland. We also watched more videos about Christmas in Switzerland.
To finish our evening, we dipped soft pretzels and bagel toast in our cheese fondue, followed by some amazing Swiss chocolate! We did this while watching A Boy Called Christmas. While this movie isn’t set in Switzerland, it does give you the same nostalgic feeling of an ‘old-world’ European Christmas.
