Swiss National Day

Swiss National Day commemorates the Federal Charter of 1291, associated with the alliance of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden. The founding story is also linked in popular memory with the Rütli meadow above Lake Lucerne, where the three original confederates are said to have pledged mutual support.

August 1 became a nationwide public holiday after a 1993 referendum. That makes it exceptional: ch.ch states that it is Switzerland’s sole federal holiday, while cantons may recognise additional local days. The celebration balances a formal national address and the Swiss Psalm with highly local traditions in villages, cities and apartment balconies across the country.

Swiss public-holiday law is deliberately decentralised. The Federal Constitution establishes August 1 as the one holiday treated like a Sunday throughout Switzerland; cantons may designate up to eight additional holidays with equivalent labour-law effect, and can recognise further dates under cantonal rules. Coverage can therefore differ by canton and sometimes municipality. Employees who work across cantonal borders generally follow the holiday law at their place of work, while contracts and collective agreements govern pay or time-off details not fixed by public law.