Sechseläuten takes its name from a change to Zurich’s working day. In the sixteenth century, the guild-dominated city council decided that summer work should end an hour later than in winter. On the first Monday after the spring equinox, a Grossmünster bell rang at six to mark the seasonal change. The name preserves that practical link between daylight, work and spring.

The guilds remain at the heart of the celebration, appearing in historical dress with horses, bands, flowers and flags. The Böögg was a later addition: a snowman-like figure representing winter, placed on a pyre and burned at six in the evening. Local folklore reads the time until its firework-filled head explodes as a prediction of summer weather. It is a cherished ritual, rather than a scientific forecast.