The Swiss Confederation Day (German) is considered perhaps the oldest of the independence days currently celebrated. Schweizer Bundesfeiertag, fr. Fête nationale suisse), which is celebrated annually on August 1st.
It is erected in memory of an event that occurred on this day in 1291, when three forest cantons (canton — is a separate state, with an independent people's assembly and executive power) — Unterwalden, Uri and Schwyz — announced an eternal alliance and alliance. The document, in fact, was not only a Declaration of Independence, but also a mutual defense treaty — due to possible aggression from the Holy Roman Empire.
Subsequently, other cantons joined the «eternal union». No one prevented them, however, formal recognition of Switzerland occurred only in 1648, when its independence from the Holy Roman Empire was officially confirmed by the Treaty of Westphalia.
August 1 was declared an official holiday in Switzerland only in the 70s of the 19th century. It was declared an official non-working day in 1994.
On August 1, many people decorate their homes with federal and municipal flags, and top officials of the state make solemn speeches. Children and adults rejoice in anticipation of fireworks, lamps and fires on the tops of mountains, which, along with solemn speeches, are attributes of the holiday.
The tradition of lighting fires on mountain tops dates back to the Middle Ages, when a chain of watch hills was built along territorial borders, on the tops of which, when the enemy approached, signal fires were lit. According to legend, these fires burning on the mountains between Lake Geneva and Lake Biel scared off the «barbarians» who were making their way into this territory. Seeing the glare on the flickering surface of the water, they thought that they were at the edge of the Earth, and that then the road went straight to Heaven.