Escalade Festival: Pre-Christmas season with a historical twist

There are festivals that seem to have fallen out of time and push the Advent season into the background. One such festival is the Escalade in Geneva, which commemorates the historic victory over the Duke of Savoy more than 400 years ago and takes place from 12 to 14 December.

The story behind Geneva’s Fête de l’Escalade goes like this: the night of 11 to 12 December 1602 was anything but peaceful. The Savoyards attacked the city with several thousand men – their vanguard had already scaled the city walls with ladders (hence the name Escalade, meaning ​‘climbing’) when the alarm was finally raised. The Savoyards were supposed to open the city gate for the rest of the troops, but they did not manage to do so because the Genevan soldier Isaac Mercier managed to close the portcullis of the Porte Neuve. This forced the attackers to retreat, thus thwarting the Duke of Savoy’s plan.

What turned out to be a military embarrassment for Charles Emmanuel became a turning point for Geneva, as the Duke was forced to definitively recognise Geneva’s independence in the Peace of Saint-Julien in 1603. The people of Geneva still celebrate this historic victory today with a city run, a night parade and bonfires, among other things. Medieval costumes, burning torches, drums and horsemen included.

The broken cooking pot

Hardly any other figure is as closely associated with the Escalade as Catherine Royaume, née Cheynel (now known primarily as ​‘Mother Royaume’, editor’s note), who is said to have killed an enemy soldier by throwing a cast-iron cooking pot full of vegetable soup at him. It is only logical that the cooking pot has become the symbol of the Escalade. Instead of cast iron, today the people of Geneva, young and old, smash chocolate cooking pots filled to the brim with marzipan vegetables, sweets and firecrackers throughout the city.

During the Escalade, there is an almost wonderful state of emergency that makes you forget the stress of the pre-Christmas period and creates a greater sense of community: there are fire pits in front of the houses, the alleys are filled with medieval songs and the smell of mulled wine and roasted almonds is everywhere. Other activities include demonstrations by craftspeople, stalls selling traditional food, patriotic songs, speeches from the Renaissance era and blacksmithing courses.

The kick-off: the Course de l’Escalade

The weekend before – on 6 and 7 December 2025 – tens of thousands of people run through the streets of Geneva: the Course de l’Escalade is one of the largest fun runs in Switzerland. Some start in costume, others simply wrap up warm. In the end, it’s not so much the running time that counts, but simply taking part and getting in the mood for the coming festive season together.

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