The event is always held on Monday and everyone gets a half day off from work to attend the event. On Sechselaeuten-Monday, some 3,500 colourfully-costumed guildsmen, over 350 horsemen, 50 horse-drawn wagons and around 30 bands parade through Zurich to the Sechselaeutenplatz for the burning of the Boegg, a straw snowman atop a 13-metre high bonfire.
The procession to the bonfire is a huge spectacle and attracts thousands of spectators. The bonfire is lit at precisely six o'clock in the evening and horsemen then circle the blaze three times to the accompaniment of the Sechselaeuten March. Tradition says that the faster the Boegg burns, the sooner summer will arrive and the longer and sunnier it will be.
