 |
| Cathedral Saint-Pierre (Calvin preached here) |
Geneva was a center of Protestantism and the Reformation. The St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, the slaughter of several thousand Huguenots (Protestants) in 1572 triggered a fast in Geneva the next year to remember those who were killed.
 |
| Reformation Wall* |
St. Bartholomew’s Day is the first Thursday in September. Over time, it lost its religious significance. It is now associated with eating plum tarts (yum).** Since this is Switzerland, banks, post offices, shops, restaurants and bars close. However, unlike Thanksgiving, which also falls on a Thursday, you don’t get a four-day weekend. I did some shopping to prepare yesterday. You should take the day off too. I will be. He will be working, remotely.
 |
| The whole ten all lit up at night |
* The people on the wall are Theodore Beza, John Calvin, William Farel and John Knox. On one side are: William the Silent, Gaspard de Coligny and Frederick William of Brandenburg. On the other side are: Roger Williams, Oliver Cromwell and Stephen Bocskay.
**People were supposed to abstain from meat on a day of penitence, and plums happened to be in season.
schwingeninswitzerland 