Geneva Fast

Geneva was a center of Protestantism and the Reformation. There are many Reformation themed monuments throughout the city and while walking through the old town, we even stumbled upon a house where John Calvin had lived back in the day.

Here is a photo of the Reformation Wall in Park Des Bastions. These statues are about 10-15 feet tall. Impressive! The people on the wall are Theodore Beza, John Calvin, William Farel and John Knox.

 And here is Cathedral de Saint Pierre, the largest Protestant church in Geneva. Calvin used to preach there.

The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre (now also called Geneva Fast), the slaughter of several thousand Huguenots (Protestants) in 1572 triggered a fast in Geneva the next year to remember those who were killed.

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. According to my friend Samantha who researches this stuff, people were supposed to abstain from meat on a day of penitence, and plums happened to be in season.

Since this is Switzerland, banks, post offices, shops, restaurants and bars close. Many people use the Friday falling after the Fast to take a long weekend off. But since both our jobs are pretty busy right now, we could not do that. But our office is locked down like Fort Knox, so we are working from home today.

It would have been nice to actually get this day off, since we did not get any time off for Labor Day, but what can you do...