Lentorama 2021: Take Your Holiday To Go

Day 16: Jeûne genevois

This day, celebrated on the Thursday after the first Sunday in September, is a civic holiday in Geneva, Switzerland, but has religious roots.

While some Swiss Protestants, most notably Huldrych Zwingli, spoke out against fasting laws as being man-made and not supported by the Bible, it was not uncommon for cantons or cities to have laws that required fasting for thanksgiving. There were also fasts during times of trouble, be they plagues, persecutions, or massacres. The people of Geneva notably fasted in response to the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572. This fasting became an annual tradition, and in the 19th century became a federally-endorsed holiday.

This didn't last too long, as by the end of the 1800s the celebration of the fast was once again largely practiced only by Genevans. The religious aspects of the fast also fell away, and today it's really a civic holiday. The one tradition that seems to have persisted (perhaps ironically for a fast) was the eating of plum tarts, which became the main food source of the fast as it could be prepared the day before and used a fruit that was in season.