Jeûne genevois (meaning Genevan fast) is a public holiday in the canton of

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, Switzerland which occurs on the Thursday following the first Sunday of September. It dates back to the 16th century.

Background

The Swiss Federal Diets of 1480 and 1483 talked about national days of

fasting Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...

as penitence and thanksgiving, but in the end, left these decisions to the cantons. With no federal law, fast days became pilgrimages, processions, litanies and fasts. In 1522

Huldrych Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Univ ...

, who helped stir

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

Reformation in Switzerland The Protestant Reformation in Switzerland was promoted initially by Huldrych Zwingli, who gained the support of the magistrate, Mark Reust, and the population of Zürich in the 1520s. It led to significant changes in civil life and state matte ...

, said fasting laws were only human notions which had nothing to do with the Holy Writ. Nonetheless, the plagues of

Basle , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS), ...

(1541) and Bern (1565 and 1577) were followed by days of penitence and

, asking God for

clemency A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

and mercy.

Began before St. Bartholomew's Day massacre

was a cradle of Protestantism and the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. There was a Geneva-wide fast in the beginning of October 1567 as a sign of friendship with Protestants undergoing persecution in

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

, France, and this was most likely the first ''Jeûne genevois'' (Genevan fast). Five years later, news of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and the slaughter of several thousand

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

s beginning on 24 August 1572 triggered a fast throughout Geneva on the following 3 September, which could be why the date of later yearly fasts was shifted forward by almost a month. By 1640, through sway of the reformed cantons, the fast had become yearly and was carried on even after the Genevan revolution of 1792. ''Jeûne genevois'' later became a patriotic holiday, symbolizing both Geneva's proud identity and its

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

. By the beginning of the Helvetic Republic folklore had thoroughly linked ''Jeûne genevois'' with the widely remembered St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and fasting in Geneva as the slaughter of whole Protestant families carried on throughout France.

In Geneva

In 1831 the Federal Diet decreed a ''Jeûne Fédéral'' (federal fast) for all cantons, fixing the date at 8 September. This was later made the third Sunday in September but for Geneva, which fixed the day of its own ''Jeûne genevois''. In 1869 Geneva decreed that the holiday was no longer official, but ''Jeûne genevois'' was celebrated unofficially until 1965, slowly losing its religious significance. On 1 August 1966 it was again declared a public holiday and the date fixed as the Thursday following the first Sunday of September. The religious fasting of ''Jeûne genevois'' is not widely followed. Banks and post offices along with many shops, restaurants and bars close for the day. However, unlike

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

in the U.S., which also falls on a Thursday, a four-day weekend is not usually taken and most businesses are open on Friday.

Plum tart

Plum tart(''tarte aux pruneaux'') is often served as dessert in Geneva homes on ''Jeûne genevois''. Any knowledge as to how this tradition began seems to have been lost, although it may have come about as a means to allow women and housekeepers a way to spend the day in prayer, having cooked plum tarts the day before (area plums being in season), with these plum tarts being the only food eaten in many Geneva households on ''Jeûne genevois''.ge.ch,
Jeûne genevois: qu'est-ce qui se cache derrière la fameuse tarte aux pruneaux?
', 5 September 2007, Retrieved 9 September 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeune genevois Culture in Geneva Public holidays in Switzerland September observances Thursday Holidays and observances by scheduling (nth weekday of the month) Christian festivals and holy days Autumn events in Switzerland