Friesenberg turnip lantern parade: four parades, one square – and the dataset's only torch ban
Four groups set off in four neighbourhoods, walk about half an hour each and meet on Friesenbergplatz. Zurich has several such star marches — Friesenberg is the only parade in the survey run by a housing cooperative, and the only one that says anything at all about torches.
📅 Start time, meeting point — and what the organiser actually published
Räbeliechtli-Umzug Friesenberg (Sternmarsch)
confirmedSaturday, 7 November 2026 · 1 day
- Start
- 18:00–22:00
- Meeting point
- Gruppe 1: Station Schweighof der Uetlibergbahn (18:00) · Gruppe 2: Kindergarten Im Rossweidli (18:00) · Gruppe 3: Schulhaus Bachtobel (18:10) · Gruppe 4: Brunnenplatz Adolf-Lüchinger-Strasse (18:10)
- Destination
- Friesenbergplatz
- Food and drink
- Festbetrieb auf dem Friesenbergplatz mit Grill, Suppe, heissen und kalten Getränken und Musik
- In bad weather
- Findet bei jeder Witterung statt. Fackeln sind nicht erlaubt.
- Organiser
- Familienheim-Genossenschaft Zürich (FGZ)
Four parades, one destination: a star march from four residential areas, each about half an hour on foot.
Source: To the organiser's page · checked on 6 September 2026
📅 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 | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Räbeliechtli-Umzug Friesenberg (Sternmarsch) | Sat 7 Nov | 18:00–22:00 | confirmed |
Calculated from the ConvivaPlus dataset — every row with its own source above.
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.
- Zürich · FriesenbergRäbeliechtli-Umzug Friesenberg (Sternmarsch)
🔎 What sets this parade apart from every other one
A star march is not a whim but an answer to the terrain. Friesenberg climbs the hillside; a single meeting point would mean half the neighbourhood walking twenty minutes downhill only to climb back up. So four groups start where people actually live and walk towards each other.
The effect is the real reason to come: four chains of light approach the same square from different directions, and in the last few minutes you can already see the others. In Zurich the form is no one-off — Höngg walks with five parades, Affoltern with three, Illnau and Oerlikon with two each. What sets Friesenberg apart is not the number of parades but who stands behind it: a housing cooperative running the evening on its own square.
Two rules make the evening plannable, and the organiser states both explicitly. The parade goes ahead in any weather — unlike Biglen, which cancels in bad weather. And torches are not permitted: bring one and you carry it back to the car. It is also the only word on open flame in the entire dataset: no other recorded organiser mentions the subject.
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🎯 How not to end up in the dark at the wrong meeting point
Friesenberg has four starting points and one appointment beforehand. Both belong in the calendar.
- 1Thu 5 November, 5–7 pm: collect turnips and food vouchersOn Friesenbergplatz in front of the Coop. A two-hour window, two days before the parade — children receive turnip and vouchers together. Miss it and you source both yourself.
- 2Pick the nearest of the four starts6:00 pm: Schweighof station (Uetliberg railway) and Im Rossweidli kindergarten. 6:10 pm: Bachtobel school and Brunnenplatz Adolf-Lüchinger-Strasse. There is no main start — you go to the one that belongs to your part of the neighbourhood.
- 3Leave torches at homeThe organiser rules them out explicitly. A turnip or lantern with a light inside, nothing else with an open flame.
- 4The festival lasts longer than the paradeAfter roughly half an hour on foot, the festival on Friesenbergplatz runs until 10:00 pm — grill, soup, hot and cold drinks and music. The parade is the start of the evening, not the whole of it.
🗺️ Where this parade sits in the season
In Zurich, turnip lanterns are a neighbourhood matter — and in Friesenberg a cooperative matter: the organiser is the Familienheim-Genossenschaft Zürich, not a neighbourhood association. In the canton of Zurich, the ConvivaPlus survey lists 12 parades; nationwide 22 entries with 16 documented dates.
7 November 2026 is one of the densest evenings: besides Friesenberg, 3 further recorded parades set off. The densest evening of the season is 6 November 2026 with 5 simultaneous parades — a figure from the ConvivaPlus analysisthat exists only because every date was read at the organiser's own source.
Turnip lantern parades nearby
Frequently asked questions about this parade
Answers from the verified dataset – no date is carried over from last year.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
Usually because of the terrain: where a neighbourhood is spread across a hillside, a single meeting point is a detour for half the residents. Friesenberg solves that with four staggered starts and one shared destination, Höngg with five, Affoltern with three. The survey lists 12 parades in the canton of Zurich.
All parades in the canton of Zurich →The great majority of organisers say nothing about it at all. Friesenberg and Höngg state explicitly that the walk happens in any weather; Biglen commits the other way. The survey records for each place what is published, and adds nothing that is not there.
All verified turnip lantern parades →Hollowed-out turnips and lanterns with a candle or LED are the norm. An open flame on a stick is a different matter: the Friesenberg organiser rules torches out explicitly — the only recorded organiser to do so. Elsewhere it is better to ask than to rely on a silence.
The ConvivaPlus verdict
The image carries the evening: four chains of light converging on one square. That a housing cooperative runs it rather than a neighbourhood or parents' association shows in the organisation — turnips handed out two days early on its own square, clear rules, a festival until 10 pm.
The recommendation is unreserved, with one practical condition: you need to know in advance which of the four starts is yours. Skip that and you are standing at one point at 6:00 pm while your part of the neighbourhood sets off ten minutes later somewhere else.
Freshness note: Starting points, times, the turnip handout and the torch ban come from the FGZ (as of 10 September 2026). Whether the handout is limited to cooperative members is not published — ask beforehand if in doubt.
Check the latest: ConvivaPlus Turnip Lantern Dataset 2026 – Zürich · Friesenberg →
- ◆«In any weather» is a statement, not filler. The great majority of organisers in this survey say nothing about the weather at all — and silence is not a promise. Friesenberg commits itself, Höngg too; Biglen commits the other way and cancels in bad weather. Everywhere else you set out on a hope.
- ◆The torch ban is the only rule of its kind in the whole dataset. No other recorded organiser says anything about open flame — neither yes nor no. That does not mean torches are welcome elsewhere; it means you set out without an answer. The FGZ answers the question before anyone asks it.
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Friesenberg is the only parade in the survey that explicitly bans torches — and the only one run by a housing cooperative.
Discussion
3 voices from the community
Vier Züg wo vo verschidene Ecke chömed und sich am Friesenbergplatz träffed — das isch de Moment. Me ghört d Musig scho vo wiitem und weiss, die andere sind au underwegs.
Wichtig: Fackle sind verbotte. Das staht klar det und wird au duregsetzt — mir hend s erste Mal eini debi gha und hend sie im Auto glah.
D Räbe-Uusgab am Dunnstig vor em Coop isch praktisch: me mues nöd sueche und d Chind chönd grad no d Bons hole. Aber nur zwei Stund, das mues me im Kalender ha.
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🏮 Turnip lantern parade · 10 September 2026