Every year Swiss children in the German speaking part of Switzerland welcome the winter in the first half of November with a traditional Räbeliechtliumzug. General assumption is that the origins of this tradition can be traced back to the early 1920s. The reason turnips were chosen seems to be due to the fact that they are amongst the last vegetables that are harvested during the year.

The traditional Räbeliechtliumzug also takes place in the village of Thalwil where I live. The children carve out their turnips at school or at home. On the night of the parade they light candles in them and walk with their classes through Thalwil. It is a great event with a very nice atmosphere. It starts and ends at the Chilbiplatz where a brassband is playing and food and drinks are being sold.

All pictures are taken with an Olympus OMD-EM10 camera in combination with the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 35mm f/1.8 fixed lens. It was pitch dark, so the lightning conditions were far from ideal for micro four third sensors. The pictures were taken without flash, mostly with 6400 iso (hence the noise level) in RAW and post-processed in Adobe Lightroom.