It's not like the Bernese only have one market day a year, actually, their farmer's market takes place twice a week on Tuesday and Saturday mornings, but the Zibelemärit (Bernese German for onion market) is a special market and you guessed it, its main product is the onion. It always takes place on the fourth Monday in November and actually draws people from all over Switzerland and even from abroad by the busload or by special trains to the capital, Bern.
Growing up in Bern, I thought I want to share this with y'all - not really a "Where In The Hell Is Carlton" subject - but maybe you may get inspired for a trip overseas.
There are two diverging stories behind it, history says that the first market was held in the mid 19th century when the first railroads started to arrive in Bern and farmers from around the "Seeland" (the mostly agricultural area around the three lakes of Murten, Biel, and Neuenburg) converged to Bern to sell their recent harvest. Legend says, and that's the part my grandpa instilled into me, that Bern had a fire in 1405. To thank the people from Fribourg who came and helped to tidy the place up again, they were granted the right to sell their fresh produce. But the special market in fall isn't mentioned in the books till 1439, according to myswitzerland.com.
Whatever the "real" reason, as kids growing up, the Zibelemärit was one of the "cool" days of the year. Not only did school finish early, but we all would participate in the "Gstungg" (melee). The main artery through town, Spitalgasse, and Marktgasse were closed to traffic and us youngsters would walk them up and down, throwing confetti into other people's faces. So watch out, don't open your mouth to say hello to somebody you may meet, some naughty kids may fill it with a well-placed shot of confetti. Often people would wear "leis" of sugar candy onions around their necks.
On the near Schützenmatt, the carnival with its rides and midway games stopped for the yearly visit. Growing older, we often went a day or two earlier than Monday to check out the thrilling joyrides, as on Zibelemärit day, most often there were too many people and the rides were much shorter.
Growing even older and not being interested in the "Gstungg" or the carnival anymore, we would help a family friend, sell their braided onion strands and wreaths and make some extra pocket money. Their market stall was under the watchful eye of the Swiss Parliament building which you can see towering above the market on the top photo. As you see in the video by filmaffen below, onions are also made into dolls and other decorative tchotchkes. And onions are sold, in every shape and form, according to myswitzerland, there are now over 10 metric tons of onions that change hands. Some years later the "Chachelimärit" (Chacheli meaning a pottery cup or small bowl) became part of it and expanded not only the goods being offered, but also expanding the market even further throughout downtown. The expansion also brought a ton of more tourists into town. So to see the "true" market with fewer people we would often go there between 4 and 6 am in the morning.
But the market is not all about buying stuff, it's also about meeting friends and indulge in food and spirits. Specialty foods being offered by almost all restaurants that day include onion and cheese tarts, onion soup with a slice of Züpfe (braided bread) and to make swallowing much easier, a lot of white wine. If it's really cold and it well can be, "Cafe Fertig" (coffee with schnaps) or Glühwein (wassail) will warm you up to stand the chill. According to the weather forecast, it should be in the mid-thirties F (2- 6 C) on Zibelemärit day.
Sources: Images bern.ch, myswitzerland.com also for some info, youtube (filmaffen)
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