Swiss turnip lantern parades 2026: 15 verified dates — and the first one burns in October

Every municipality, every neighbourhood and parents' association publishes its parade on its own page. Nowhere do they appear together. We have gathered them: 15 confirmed dates in 16 municipalities across 6 cantons — each one read at the organiser's own page, none carried over from last year.

When is the turnip lantern parade in 2026?

The confirmed parades of 2026 run from Friday, 30. October 2026 to Saturday, 14. November 2026. There is no nationwide date — every municipality sets its own evening.

That is exactly why the question «when is Räbeliechtli?» is so hard to answer: no authority sets the date. A neighbourhood association, a parents' association, a playgroup, a local tourism society — each decides for its own village, its own district. Type it into a search engine and you get a single association's page, never the overview. More than two weeks separate the earliest from the latest documented date this season. Rely on «sometime in early November» and you will miss the evening in your own municipality.

The ConvivaPlus Räbeliechtli calendar

Every recorded event in one list — filterable by canton, weekday and how firmly the date is documented.

Precisely what a search engine cannot deliver in its results: not one municipality, but all of them side by side — with start time, assembly point, food on offer and a link to the page where we read the date.

Where the turnips burn across the country

We currently cover 6 cantons. Räbeliechtli is a German-speaking Swiss custom — it does not exist in French-speaking Switzerland or Ticino.

The map shows how many documented events we hold per canton. Which means it also shows something else: where our data is still thin. A pale canton does not mean nobody walks with turnips there — it means nobody there has yet published a date we could verify.

What parents need to know beforehand

The date is only half the planning. The three most common mishaps: no turnip, the wrong starting point in a star march, and assuming a parade is automatically cancelled in the rain.

1. 1
   You cannot get a turnip on the night itselfTurnip sales and carving happen days in advance — in Illnau already on 31 October, in Iberg the Wednesday before, at Friesenberg turnips and food vouchers are handed out the evening before. In Baden carving takes place in the afternoon, but only with registration. Think of it on the night and you walk without a light.
2. 2
   In a star march the address matters more than the timeSeveral of the largest parades do not start in one place: Höngg has five assembly points, Friesenberg four, Affoltern three, Oerlikon and Illnau two each. Standing at the wrong one means chasing your own procession — the groups set off at different times, sometimes ten minutes apart.
3. 3
   The bad-weather rule is not the same everywhereHöngg and Friesenberg set off in any weather, explicitly. Biglen, by contrast, cancels in bad weather and publishes the decision about two days beforehand on the association's site. There is no shared rule — your own association's rule is the one that counts.
4. 4
   The start falls between 5.30 and 6.45 p.m.This is the real planning constraint: for many families the evening begins in the middle of dinner. The earliest recorded parades set off at 5.30 p.m., the latest only at 6.30 p.m. — and then run until 9. With small children, choose the early parade over the big one.
5. 5
   Take public transport to the big paradesAt the Räbechilbi in Richterswil there is simply no parking; the route runs right beside the station, reachable on the S2 or S8. The commemorative badge and plaque there are cash only.
6. 6
   No open flames where they are bannedFriesenberg explicitly bans torches, Baden recommends an LED tea light. In a parade of hollowed-out turnips inside a crowd, that is not a formality.

Why turnips at all?

In the Middle Ages the turnip was a staple food — what the potato is today. The parade originally celebrated the end of the last harvest before winter.

You find this explanation on the organisers' own pages — from the Illnau parents' association to the Baden family centre: lanterns were carved from the last harvest and carried through the village by children. In Flawil the custom even has its own name and its own legend: the Lägelisnachthas been celebrated since 1927 on the Tuesday after St Othmar's day and recalls a wine delivery that reached the village safely in November — the «Lägel» is the wooden barrel. In the canton of Bern the parade is officially listed in the inventory of living traditions. What began as a harvest thanksgiving is today above all one thing: the first warm evening of the dark season.

What we don't know yet — and why it is written here

Of 21 recorded events, 6 still have no confirmed date for 2026. We list them anyway — as open, not as dates.

It would be easy to fill the gaps with last year's date. The list would look fuller and nobody would notice — until a family stood on the wrong evening in front of an unlit school. That is why we visibly distinguish three states: confirmed means the organiser published this 2026 date themselves. Rule means there is a fixed recurrence rule — the Räbechilbi is always the second Saturday in November, the Lägelisnacht always the Tuesday after St Othmar — but no official calendar date yet. Open means: the event usually takes place, the date is published nowhere. We keep checking. And if you know a date: send us the link, not the date.

Written by

Jana Meier

ConvivaPlus Editor · Family & Day Trips

Writes about day trips, family and local life – honestly assessing what's worth it.

• Day trips
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Researched & sourced · for Switzerland

Profile & all articles →·Our editorial teamUpdated 6. September 2026

🏮 Family · 6. September 2026