Richterswil Räben
Turnips with white flesh and a purple skin, grown to be hollowed out into lanterns. In Richterswil, the Räbechilbi parades them every November, carved with patterns and lit by a candle. They are also eaten as a vegetable, or fermented as sour turnip.
One November evening in Richterswil, a rocket bursts in the sky: it is the signal, and the residents switch off their lights. A few minutes later, at 6.30 pm, a second firecracker sets off the procession. At its head walk women dressed in black; behind them, in the darkness, come carved turnips lit from within.
Origin
The räbe is an autumn turnip with white flesh and a purple skin, which was long a staple food. Sown after the grain harvest, it was gathered in autumn, when few other foods were plentiful, and was sometimes on the table every day. The lanterns are more recent. According to the Federal Office of Culture, which counts the Zurich räben processions among the living traditions of Switzerland, the first reliable records of processions date from the 1920s, in the Zurich Oberland; before that, everyone probably carried their lantern about on their own. In Richterswil, legend has it that in 1850 farm women from the Richterswilerberg lit their way to the evening service like this. Folklorists have refuted it: there is no evidence of the festival before 1880, nor of evening services in the village in the 19th century.
Growing
Today the räbe is grown mostly for decoration. For the Räbechilbi alone, close to 30 tonnes are planted and harvested every year. The turnips are hollowed out, ornaments, moons, suns or angels are carved into their walls, then a candle makes the pattern glow. Local clubs devote thousands of hours to it: their large three-dimensional figures assemble hundreds of turnips on scaffolding.
At the table
The räbe is not only for lighting. Until the last century, SRF radio points out, it was a common vegetable; its sulphurous smell fades with cooking, and a béchamel softens it further. It is also preserved by fermentation, like cabbage: cut into thick strips and salted, it becomes sour turnip, eaten raw in salad or cooked with bacon and sausages, all winter, from October. Close to 1000 tonnes of it are still sold each year in Switzerland.
Today
Organised since 1908 by the local tourist association, the Räbechilbi brings together 1000 to 1200 participants and close to 20,000 spectators every year. Some 50,000 candles light the procession, which covers a one-kilometre circuit one and a half times in about an hour, while residents decorate their façades with turnips.
Sources: Federal Office of Culture, Living Traditions in Switzerland, entry “Räbenlichter-Umzüge” and its detailed description (2024); Culinary Heritage of Switzerland, entry “Compote aux raves et choucroute”; Radio SRF 1, “Nicht nur Räbeliechtli: Wie man mit dem Knollengemüse kocht” (2024).