Monday, November 25, 2013

Onion market



Market in front of the Parliament building at 5 am







The Zibelemärit (English: onion market) is an annual market with aspects of a fair in the old town of Berne, Switzerland. It takes place every fourth Monday in November.
Historical research indicates that the Zibelemärit originated in the 1850s with marmettes, farmer's wives from around Murten, coming to Berne at around St. Martin's Day to sell their produce. However, a persistent local legend holds that the Zibelemärit is a much older festivity. According to this legend, the Bernese awarded the people from the nearby city of Fribourg the right to sell onions in the city in reward for their aid after a fire destroyed much of Berne in 1405.
As the name indicates, it is mainly onions that are sold on the Zibelemärit. Bernese farmers, who are proud of their decorative onion tresses and onion wreaths, also sell other onion products on the market, including onion pie, onion soup and onion sausages. Decorative chains of sugar onions are also popular with children.
The Zibelemärit opens very early in the day, at around 03:00 to 04:00. Later in the morning, the narrow alleys are usually packed tight with people, which is what the Bernese call the Gstungg. A general confetti battle in which mostly children participate ensues at four o'clock in the afternoon, officially ending the market.
Hereafter some photos of the onion tresses. 
One a present of my son and the other one a present from a very dear neighbour:







I am in a hurry... it's onion tarte for dinner tonight!
     ♥  Emilie's daughter   ♥ 
Pics by me and www.berne.com, text  Wikipedia
PS. I have had big difficulties with my PC and could not post. 
Thanks to the PC doctor and a lot of annoyance it seems to work fine again.
I would like to thank you all your wonderful comments on my last post as well as for your visits.

9 comments:

  1. So interesting market and history ! I see how beautiful they are the onion tresses ! Here we make meet with onions ,chicken ,meatballs and pie ! But the boys don't like so much .... Nice post ! Have a lovely night my dear friend !

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  2. Zwiebelmarkt mit schönen Motiven!

    ♥ Franka

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  3. What an interesting, historical market ... !

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  4. I would love to have an onion wreath! Beautiful pictures--so warm and festive.

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  5. It lovely to see old customs still being celebrated. The onion tresses look too good to use!
    Sarah x

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  6. Hi Christa,

    This is beautiful, what a fabulous market!

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  7. What a great market, I bet you had fun.

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  8. What a wonderful event and I enjoyed reading the story about the origin of the market. So many colourful displays and the presents you received are lovely. Onion tart too - delicious!
    http://missbbobochic.blogspot.co.uk/

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  9. An onion market, how wonderful!!! The closest thing we would have to that is the farmers markets during the summer and fall. Love the photos on the onion tables. Thanks for sharing such a great tradition, Laura

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