Today is Knabenschiessen, a traditional celebration in Zurich. Knabenschiessen is a traditional shooting competition for teenagers and is held on the second weekend of September each year. The Monday afternoon is a holiday observed across the city. Even though this is only a half-day holiday, many workers will take the morning as a holiday to create a long weekend or work from home in the morning.
While the date of the first festival is officially 1889, the custom can be dated back to older roots in the 17th century.
The competition is open to 13-17-year-old boys (“Knaben”) and girls in the canton of Zürich. The competition has been open to female participants since 1991.
The shooting within the competition is done with the Swiss Army ordinance rifle, which the children will encounter a few years later as they do their national service.
The competition is held in the shooting range at Albisgütli on the slope of Üetliberg.
Today is the birthday, in 1941, of Otis Redding, American singer-songwriter, record producer. After appearing at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival Redding wrote and recorded his iconic ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay’ with Steve Cropper. The song became the first posthumous No.1 record on the Billboard Hot 100 and The Dock of the Bay became the first posthumous album to reach No.1 on the UK Albums Chart. Redding was killed in a plane crash on 10th December 1967. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVjnBo96Ug
