Swiss National Day August 1st – Happy Birthday Switzerland!
Historic Confederation Helvetica Alliance
It’s a celebration of the historic alliance signed on 1st August 1291 by the Cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden which made up the first “Confederation Helvetica” – the beginning of what we know as Switzerland today.
They pledged eternal allegiance and to help support each other against the Hapsburgs and the date has been celebrated as a holiday since 1891. In Rütli Meadow in Canton Uri near Lake Lucerne a very special celebration is enacted every year in the very place that the alliance was originally signed.
