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Zurich Citizenship Test: Culture and Everyday Life

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What this area covers

The fifth area of the Zurich catalogue is about culture and everyday culture: national symbols, holidays and customs, sport, literature and art, everyday knowledge such as transport and emergencies, Switzerland’s place in the world, and culture in the canton of Zurich. Many of these questions are easier for people who already take part in local life, but all of them can be learned.

Below are the facts you should know, in our own words. We do not reproduce the canton’s questions.

Symbols and holidays

  • The Swiss flag shows a free-standing white cross on a red square.
  • The national day is 1 August, a public holiday throughout Switzerland. It recalls the alliance of 1291, which the Rütli meadow stands for.
  • The national anthem is the Swiss Psalm (Schweizerpsalm).
  • Helvetia, a female figure symbolising Switzerland, appears on the 2-franc coin.
  • Other names for Switzerland are the Eidgenossenschaft (Confederation) and CH, from the Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. Bern is the federal city and seat of government.

Customs and traditions

  • Fasnacht (carnival) has parades with masks. At the Morgestraich in Basel the street lights go out and the fife and drum music begins.
  • Yodelling is a traditional singing technique from rural farming life.
  • Schwingen (Swiss wrestling) is a traditional sport. Jass is the classic Swiss card game.
  • A Chilbi is a local fair with rides. Circus Knie is the largest circus in Switzerland.

Sport, literature and art

  • Football is the sport most people play in clubs, and skiing is a popular winter sport. Roger Federer is a famous Swiss tennis player.
  • Johanna Spyri wrote Heidi. Max Frisch and Friedrich Dürrenmatt are major Swiss writers, and Gottfried Keller was a renowned Zurich writer.
  • Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Niki de Saint Phalle and Pipilotti Rist are internationally known artists.
  • The Swiss National Museum in Zurich presents the history of Switzerland.

Everyday life

  • SBB stands for Swiss Federal Railways. BLS, SOB and SZU are other railway companies.
  • When the sirens sound in a real emergency, switch on the radio and follow the instructions.
  • Some newspapers appear only once a week, such as the Sunday papers. The editorial team decides what a newspaper publishes.
  • Regions are known for their industries: the Jura for watches, Basel for pharmaceutical companies.

Switzerland in the world

  • Switzerland joined the United Nations in 2002. The UN’s human rights body sits in Geneva.
  • The International Committee of the Red Cross has its headquarters in Switzerland.
  • Within the OSCE, Switzerland works especially for peace in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
  • The World Economic Forum meets regularly in Davos. World football’s governing body FIFA is based in Zurich.
  • Relations with the EU rest on a series of bilateral agreements.

Culture in the canton of Zurich

  • At Sechseläuten the Zurich guilds parade and the Böögg, a snowman figure, is burned. Tradition says: the faster its head explodes, the finer the summer.
  • The Street Parade stands for love, peace, freedom, generosity and tolerance.
  • The Zürcher Theater Spektakel shows theatre, dance and music from around the world every August.
  • Weltklasse Zürich is a major athletics meeting.
  • The Technorama in Winterthur is a science centre where you touch the exhibits and try experiments yourself.
  • The Masoala Hall at Zurich Zoo recreates a rainforest from Madagascar.
  • The canton’s coat of arms is divided diagonally into white and blue.

How to study this area

Take part where you can: go to the 1 August celebration of your commune, visit Sechseläuten or the National Museum, watch a Schwingfest on television. Facts you have experienced are easier to remember. For the rest, learn names in pairs: Heidi and Spyri, FIFA and Zurich, WEF and Davos, Technorama and Winterthur.

Next step

Practise this area with the free questions. The other areas: Democracy and federalism, Social state and civil society, History, Geography. Cantonal and communal topics: Canton and communes of Zurich.