Today, December 12th, Geneva celebrates “L’Escalade“, a holiday that tells a lot about its history. In the same day of the year 1602, the Savoyard people tried to attack and invade the city (apparently with religious motivations, being Geneva a protestant republic and the Savoyards, catholics) by climbing its walls, and failed.
Rumor has it an old lady fought the attackers by throwing of her window a big pan of boiling legume soup over the head of a soldier. That’s the origin of the Marmite de l’Escalade, one of the biggest symbols of this celebration.
At my French school, I had the pleasant opportunity to participate in a funny tradition to celebrate the victory of Geneva over the Savoyards: singing of the Escalade hymn, toasting with cider and breaking of the chocolate Marmite with a saber, to find out it was filled with sweets!
Interesting and tasty traditions… 🙂
J'habite à Genève 