The event is not marked by any great fanfare, but is nonetheless momentous: after 142 years, the Swiss telephone directory is no more. Millions upon millions of these hefty volumes have been printed on their signature thin paper. But the most recent edition will be the last. Is this a threat to the richness of Swiss culture? Not in the sense that the rather literarily limited book (‘many characters, little plot’) is disappearing, but because the traditional ‘Fötzeliregen’ confetti of Shrove Tuesday celebrations in Lucerne is under threat: for decades, the little strips of paper used in this tradition have been made from old telephone directories.
In many areas of Switzerland, last summer was the hottest and driest since records began. Hosepipe bans were in force, especially in Ticino. However, this didn’t stop the number of private swimming pools in Switzerland rising. The leader of the pack is clearly the Ticino municipality of Brione sopra Minusio, with 120 pools for 465 inhabitants, or one pool for every 3.8 people. The trend is rising.
Carefully chosen statistics can generate juicy headlines, such as: more and more young Swiss women want to perform military service. The number has risen by 15 percent in a year. Sounds impressive. In absolute terms, however, the situation is less impressive: the 2022 summer recruit school saw 244 women sign up, 32 more than in the previous year.
Looking for an example of an actually significant change? How about this? In 1960, 1 percent of all Swiss people said they did not belong to any religion. In 2020, that figure had risen to 31 percent. Those without any religious affiliation are today the second largest “denomination” – behind Catholics and ahead of Protestants. More info on the subject: revue.link/religion
Contrary to religious matters, Switzerland’s faith in chocolate is unshakeable. The Swiss get through 9.9 kilos of the stuff per person every year. If you eat that many sweets but don’t want to get fat, you’ll have to jog for almost 1,000 kilometres to burn off all those calories. You could also try doing nothing: there are enough calories in that much chocolate to let you snooze in front of the telly for over a month – without any other drinks or snacks.
‘Fötzeliregen’ confetti is a Shrove Tuesday tradition for which large numbers of old telephone directories are transformed into little strips of paper. Photo: Keystone
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