From Saints’ Day to Knabenschiessen: Why Zurich Celebrates in September
When people think of Zurich’s Knabenschiessen, they usually picture fairground rides, shooting competitions, food stalls and thousands of visitors enjoying one of the city’s biggest annual festivals.
Few would associate it with a medieval feast day.
And yet the history of the Knabenschiessen leads back to two of the oldest figures in Zurich’s history: Felix and Regula, the city’s traditional patron saints.
Their feast day is 11 September.
The fact that Zurich’s largest traditional festival still takes place around this time of year is no coincidence.
Felix and Regula – Zurich’s Patron Saints
According to medieval tradition, Felix and Regula were members of the legendary Theban Legion. They are said to have fled persecution because of their Christian faith and eventually reached Zurich.
Here, on or near the banks of the River Limmat, they were supposedly executed by beheading.
The famous legend tells us that after their execution, Felix and Regula picked up their severed heads and carried them several steps to the place where they wished to be buried.
Several of Zurich’s most important churches are closely connected with this tradition.
The Wasserkirche, or Water Church, marks the traditional site of their martyrdom. Across the River Limmat, the Grossmünster developed into one of the main centres of their cult. The Fraumünster, too, was closely linked to the veneration of Zurich’s patron saints.
For centuries, Felix and Regula were not simply two saints among many.
They formed part of Zurich’s identity.
Why 11 September Was So Important in Zurich
The feast day of Felix and Regula was celebrated on 11 September.
In medieval Zurich, such a feast day was far more than a church service.
Religion, politics and public life were closely intertwined. Processions, religious ceremonies, markets and public festivities all formed part of major feast days.
Around the feast of Felix and Regula, Zurich also developed its traditional church fair, or “Zürichilbi”.
This marks the beginning of a tradition whose traces can still be seen today.
Because right in the middle of September, Zurich still celebrates its most famous traditional public festival:
the Knabenschiessen.
Then Came Zwingli
The Zurich Reformation of the 1520s changed almost everything.
Under Huldrych Zwingli, images and relics were removed from churches, the veneration of saints was rejected and religious processions disappeared.
The cult of Felix and Regula also lost its former importance.
But traditions do not always disappear as quickly as the beliefs that originally created them.
The 11th of September remained remarkably present in Zurich’s calendar.
That is one of the most fascinating aspects of the story.
The Catholic veneration of the saints disappeared, but the traditional September festival did not vanish completely.
So Where Does the Knabenschiessen Come From?
At this point, two different historical stories need to be separated.
The shooting competition itself did not originate in the cult of Felix and Regula.
Its roots lie instead in the military training of Zurich’s young men.
In earlier centuries, the defence of the city was the responsibility of its citizens. Learning how to handle weapons was therefore an important part of civic life.
Military exercises involving Zurich boys are documented as early as 1637. Young participants were trained in the use of weapons, and shooting competitions were used to test their skills.
One particularly important source dates from 1656.
In that year, the records explicitly mention a “Knaben Schiesset”, a shooting competition for boys. The city provided prizes for the participants.
Interestingly, this documented event took place on 20 September 1656.
That date matters.
It shows that we cannot simply claim that:
The Knabenschiessen has been held on the feast day of Felix and Regula ever since the 17th century.
The history is more complex than that.
Two Zurich Traditions Come Together
What we can see instead are two different historical traditions.
On the one hand, there was the old September festival centred on Felix and Regula and the Zürichilbi.
On the other hand, the military shooting competition for young people developed during the 17th century.
Both traditions belonged to Zurich’s September festival season.
Over time, the shooting competition and the popular fair became increasingly closely connected.
This gradually produced the festival we know today.
The modern Knabenschiessen is therefore neither simply a medieval saints’ festival nor merely a military shooting competition.
It carries elements from several very different periods of Zurich’s history.
From Military Training to Popular Festival
During the 19th century, the Knabenschiessen continued to evolve.
Its military significance gradually declined, while its social and festive character became increasingly important.
Since 1899, the event in its modern form has been organised by the Schützengesellschaft der Stadt Zürich, the Zurich City Shooting Association.
Around the shooting competition grew the enormous fairground that today attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors.
Roller coasters, food stalls, music, games and fairground attractions now dominate the scene.
There is no trace of medieval religious processions.
And yet the people of Zurich still gather every year in September, around the old feast day of their patron saints.
Felix and Regula Are Still There
Perhaps this is the most fascinating part of the story.
Most visitors to the Knabenschiessen probably do not know why Zurich celebrates its great public festival at precisely this time of year.
Felix and Regula play almost no official role in the modern event.
And yet a memory of their feast day still survives in the rhythm of the city.
Religious festivals change.
Political systems change.
Beliefs change.
But certain dates can remain surprisingly persistent in a city’s collective memory.
And so an invisible historical thread connects medieval Zurich with the Reformation, the military civic society of the early modern period and the bright lights of today’s Knabenschiessen.
A Festival with Centuries of History
The next time you walk through the Knabenschiessen at the Albisgütli, it is worth looking at the festival with different eyes.
Behind the shooting ranges, fairground rides and food stalls lies a remarkable piece of Zurich’s cultural history.
The modern Knabenschiessen did not begin as a religious celebration.
Its traditional September date, however, is closely connected with a much older Zurich festival tradition:
the feast of Felix and Regula on 11 September.
Which means that Zurich’s old patron saints can still be found in a place where hardly anyone would think to look for them.
Right in the middle of the fairground.
A Note on Historical Accuracy
The connection should not be understood to mean that the Knabenschiessen developed directly out of a religious ritual dedicated to Felix and Regula.
Historically, it is more accurate to say:
The September date of today’s Knabenschiessen belongs to the tradition of the old Zürichilbi associated with the feast of Felix and Regula on 11 September. The shooting competition itself, however, developed independently during the 17th century from the military training of Zurich’s youth.
It is precisely this meeting of different traditions that makes the history of the Zurich Knabenschiessen so fascinating.
Sources
Schützengesellschaft der Stadt Zürich: History of the Knabenschiessen
Historical Dictionary of Switzerland (HLS): Felix and Regula
Federal Office of Culture: Knabenschiessen – Living Traditions in Switzerland
Swiss Idiotikon: Chilbi und Knabenschiessen
City of Zurich, Archaeology: Felix and Regula / Zurich’s City Saints
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