An expat guide to the Federal Day of Thanksgiving in Switzerland

On the third Sunday of every September, communities across Switzerland come together to celebrate the Federal Day of Thanksgiving, Repentance and Prayer (Eidgenössische Dank-, Buss- und Bettag, Jeûne fédéral, Digiuno federale). Here’s what you need to know about the event, how it was brought about and whether Swiss cantons consider it a full public holiday.

The Federal Day of Thanksgiving, Repentance and Prayer explained

The Federal Day of Thanksgiving, Repentance and Prayer or Federal Thanksgiving is a cross-faith political / religious holiday that seeks to promote cohesion between communities across Switzerland. Unlike the event of the same name in the United States and Canada, because of its history, the Swiss tradition is typically associated with fasting rather than feasting.

The event is attended by all denominations of the Christian and Jewish faiths but also seeks to welcome members of other religions and those who have no religion. Today, the event is epitomised by joint services, communions and prayers in churches across Switzerland, alongside speeches and talks.

Is Federal Thanksgiving a holiday in Switzerland?

Federal Thanksgiving in Switzerland is recognised as a holiday in all but one Swiss canton, but as it always falls on the third Sunday in September (September 15, 2024), most workers are not given it as a day off. However, in a few cantons, the event is classed as a significant religious holiday, meaning that some events may be prohibited on the day.

In Canton Vaud and unofficially in parts of Neuchâtel and Bern, the Monday following Thanksgiving (Lundi du Jeûne) is a cantonal holiday, meaning Vaudois employees will be given a day off on September 16, 2024. 

Canton Geneva, the only canton to not recognise Jeûne fédéral, has its own version of the festival called Jeûne genevois. This public holiday is held on the Thursday after the first Sunday in September, which in 2024 is September 5.

History of Thanksgiving and prayer days in Switzerland

Switzerland has a long history of calling for days of thanksgiving and prayer, with the first such events taking place near the country’s founding in the Middle Ages. The vast majority of these days called for fasting and could last days, weeks, and even months in some cases.

What were Swiss days of prayer used for?

Instead of a set day every year, the first prayer and thanksgiving days were organised spontaneously by Swiss cantons and occasionally by the federal government. They were designed to recognise and mourn tragic events, give thanks for good fortune, or promote social cohesion in times of crisis and food shortages (hence the fasting).

For instance, one of the first recorded days of thanksgiving in Switzerland was in Zurich in 1572, when prayers were said for French Protestant Huguenots following the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, when a mob murdered up to 30.000 people in Paris.

Other examples were also reported in St. Gallen following several epidemics and in Graubünden (called the Free State of the Three Leagues at the time), which held a day of Thanksgiving every year from 1639 to 1648 to give thanks for the fact that Switzerland was not involved in the Thirty Years’ War. The latter occasion was the first time that such an event was held consistently in September.

In 1643, Catholic-dominated cantons introduced a common day of prayer in September, though this remained separate from those held in Protestant areas. By the time of the Enlightenment, the practice of holding days of thanksgiving had declined, though such events remained a strong part of church traditions. 

Thanksgiving days mandated by the Helvetic Republic

This would remain the case until 1797. Following the French Revolution, a joint prayer day was held on the third Sunday of September to promote unity within Switzerland, and was the first time that both Catholic and Protestant cantons and churches held the event together. Switzerland was invaded and puppeted by France a year later.

The French-backed government installed in Switzerland after the invasion, the Helvetic Republic, mandated that a Federal Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer be held every year. After the republic’s demise in 1803, the event continued to take place.

In 1832, the federal government mandated that it be held on the third Sunday in September - interesting to note, Graubünden only started to follow this rule in 1848, and Geneva continues to ignore the order to this day.

Federal Thanksgiving used to fix divisions after Swiss Civil War

The holiday as we know it today has its origins in the Swiss Civil War or Sonderbund War of 1847, which pitted predominantly Protestant areas in favour of a stronger federal government against a special alliance (Sonderbund) of predominantly Catholic regions that favoured maintaining the rights, privileges and autonomy of the cantons. 

Following federal victory and the creation of the modern Swiss state in 1848, the government mandated that the holiday be made the Federal Day of Thanksgiving, Repentance and Prayer. In a bid to reunite the highly fragmented country, the event would bring together those of not just religious differences but political differences too. The hope was that through prayer and dialogue, both sides of the political spectrum could finally unite.

In the event's early stages, each canton was responsible for writing a mandate for every Thanksgiving, detailing the issues of the day and the reasons for thanks, and calling for unity and strength. Though the church took over organising these events by the start of the 20th century, some cantons take the time to write these treaties to this day. In 1962, the event was made an ecumenical festival by the Vatican.

Federal Day of Thanksgiving in Switzerland

While not as popular today as it was in the 1800s and 1900s, the Federal Day of Thanksgiving, Repentance and Prayer still serves as a reminder that, although we may not have the same religious or political beliefs, or indeed the same nationalities, we are first and foremost all residents of Switzerland. 

As famed Swiss poet Gottfried Keller wrote in his Thanksgiving mandate for Zurich in 1872, “May a uniform desire to fulfil our duty warm all people more and more so that the tender seeds of goodness take hold and flourish… Let us continually renew our lives, united in the pursuit of justice and simplicity, so that we may stand strong together in the face of challenges."