Illnau's Turnip Lantern Parade: Two Starting Points – and Three Dates, Only One of Which Is in the Calendar
✓ Checked at the source · as of 6 September 2026
In a calendar, Illnau's parade looks like one evening. It is in fact three appointments with three separate deadlines: a turnip sale lasting two hours, a voucher pre-sale cheaper than the till on the night — and only then the parade. Note just the date and you turn up on 5 November without a turnip and pay more for supper.
📅 Parade 2026 — when and where
A single Thursday – miss it and you wait a year.
Illauer-Räbeliechtli-Umzug
✓Thursday, 5 November 2026 · 1 day
- Organiser
- Elternverein Illnau
At both meeting points there is singing before the start – with musical accompaniment by the SJMIE.
Source: evillnau.ch · checked on 6 September 2026
🕐 Start time and running order
Where there are two groups, each start is listed separately — an average would be wrong for both.
Start: 18:00
🗓️ Is it happening?
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📅 Visit-day check
Pick the day you are free — the answer comes from the verified ConvivaPlus dataset, not from a run you have to work out in your head.
| Session | Run | Opening hours | Date set? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Illauer-Räbeliechtli-Umzug | Thu 5 Nov | 18:00 | confirmed |
Calculated from the ConvivaPlus dataset — every row with its own source above.
🚋 Meeting point & transport with stop
- Meeting point
- Unterillnau: Hagenstrasse vor dem Tageshort · Oberillnau: Gstückstrasse
- Destination
- Schule Illnau
📋 Good to know before you go
- Food and drink
- Würstli, Suppe, Kuchen, Glühwein und Punsch bei der Schule
- Preparation
- Räbenverkauf: Sa 31. Oktober 2026, 9–11 Uhr beim Restaurant «Schmitte da Nino». Essensbon-Vorverkauf 20.–30.10. in der Bibliothek Illnau (günstiger als vor Ort).
✨ Highlights on site
What sets this parade apart from every other one is not in its date.
Illnau-Effretikon is a municipality made of two villages, and the parade turns that into a choreography rather than a compromise: Unterillnau and Oberillnau assemble separately, each in its own street, and walk towards each other until both reach the school. Newly moved in and typing «Illnau» into a map, you stand a fair chance of arriving at the wrong one of the two.
The finest detail sits in a subordinate clause of the dataset: at both meeting points there is singing before setting off, accompanied by the SJMIE. Not during the procession, but before it — standing still, in the dark, before anything moves. It is the moment parents recount afterwards, and it happens twice at once in two streets.
And then there is the matter of dates. The parents' association has arranged the evening so that you can come prepared — but the preparation has windows of its own: the turnip sale lasts two hours on a single Saturday morning. The voucher pre-sale runs eleven days and is explicitly cheaper than the till on the night. Both are on the association's site and in no events calendar — there, only 5 November appears.
What made you miss the pre-sale?
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🎯 Practical tips for the evening
Illnau is three appointments. Here are all three, in the order they fall due.
- 120–30 October: food vouchers at Illnau libraryThe pre-sale is cheaper than the till on site. An eleven-day window; after that you pay full price on the night — the only money-saving tip on this page, and it costs nothing but a detour to the library.
- 2Early in the seasonFor early planners: 13 of the season's 17 events start later than this one.
- 3Pick the right one of the two startsUnterillnau: Hagenstrasse in front of the day-care centre. Oberillnau: Gstückstrasse. Both at 18:00. There is no «main» meeting point — you go to your own village's.
- 4Come a little early for the singingBoth groups sing before setting off, accompanied by the SJMIE. Arrive at 17:58 and you have lit the turnip but missed the part everyone remembers.
📊 Season comparison with nearby villages
Where this parade sits in the season — and which neighbouring village walks on the same evening.
Each bar is a documented evening. Dark = this parade, light = the nearest ones. A parade lasts an hour and often falls on the same evening as another — read only a date and you miss that the next village sets off at the same minute.
- Illnau-Effretikon · IllnauIllauer-Räbeliechtli-Umzug
🗺️ Nearby parades
In the canton of Zurich the ConvivaPlus survey lists 12 parades; nationwide, 22 entries with 17 documented dates. The season runs from 30 October 2026 to 14 November 2026.
On 5 November 2026, besides Illnau, 1 other recorded parades set off; the densest evening of the season is 6 November 2026, with 5 parades at once. That metric comes from the ConvivaPlus survey and can only be calculated because every parade has a documented date — read at a first-hand source (organiser or municipality), never carried over from last year.
More turnip lantern parades in the canton of Zurich
All of the canton of Zurich→❓ FAQ — answered
Answers from the verified dataset – no date is carried over from last year.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
Because the municipality is made of several villages and neither should have to follow the other. Illnau solves it with two simultaneous meeting points and one shared destination; in the city of Zurich, by contrast, each neighbourhood runs its own parade on its own evening. The survey lists 12 parades in the canton of Zurich.
It depends on the place. Illnau sells turnips on a Saturday morning; hollowing them out remains the family's job. Miss the Saturday morning and you still have five days in Illnau to find one yourself.
The parade itself lasts about an hour. In Illnau the time at the school comes on top — with soup, cake and punch the parade becomes an evening rather than an item on the programme.
The ConvivaPlus verdict
Illnau is the best-organised evening in this survey — and the one where you can get most wrong if you read only the parade date.
In the canton of Zurich, 8 of the 10 events start later than this one.
Freshness note: Turnip sale, pre-sale window and prices come from the Elternverein Illnau (as of 10 September 2026). How many turnips are available on the Saturday morning is not stated — arriving early is the safe option.
Check the latest: ConvivaPlus Turnip Lantern Dataset 2026 – Illnau-Effretikon · Illnau →
- ◆In 2026 the first day falls on a Thursday.
- ◆Can't make the date? The nearest place with this event is Winterthur, 8 km away.
How we check
Every date comes from the organiser's, the municipality's or the canton's own site — never from an aggregator, never copied over from last year. Next to each source is the date we last read it.
Something missing or changed? A note below is enough; we check it at the source.
ConvivaPlus Editor · Family & Day Trips
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It only starts at 18:00 – an evening outing.
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🏮 Turnip lantern parade · 10 September 2026