Miscellaneous 26,000 carnival fans follow the Fritschium parade in Lucerne
The colorful chameleon of the Conversio float construction group from Lucerne.
Image: Keystone
Grim individual mask.
Image: Keystone
The Fritschi and the Fritschene as well as the fools enjoy the Fötzeliregen after the big bang on the Kapellplatz at the Fritschi day watch of the Lucerne Fasnacht.
Image: Keystone
The colorful chameleon of the Conversio float construction group from Lucerne.
Image: Keystone
Grim individual mask.
Image: Keystone
The Fritschi and the Fritschene as well as the fools enjoy the Fötzeliregen after the big bang on the Kapellplatz at the Fritschi day watch of the Lucerne Fasnacht.
Image: Keystone
The Lucerne Carnival opened with a big bang at 5 o'clock on Dirty Thursday. In the afternoon, the Fritschium parade made its way through the city past the jesters in better weather than forecast.
12.02.2026, 14:20
12.02.2026, 16:58
SDA
According to estimates by the Lucerne police, 25,000 people attended the day's festivities in dry weather. Extra trains from all directions made sure that the people in disguise arrived in droves just in time for the carnival kick-off with the legendary big bang and the "Fötzeliregen".
This year, around 26,000 people lined the streets during the parade, according to police estimates. A year ago, there were just as many in nasty conditions and low temperatures.
Dirty Thursday in Lucerne is in the hands of the Guild of Saffron. The former merchants' guild, which has existed for 600 years, is the largest and oldest guild in the city and guardian of Brother Fritschi, the legendary symbol of Lucerne's carnival.
Taken for a ride
The first official act in the Fritschium parade was the "Nachtheuler Horw", who performed as Norse gods under the motto "Return of the Kings".
There were political side blows from the Wey guild, for example, who, as Punch and Judy figures under the motto "Tri-Tra-Trallalla, de SPasperli esch weder da!" took aim at traffic projects.
Under the motto "Mission Impossible", the Saffron Guild addressed the difficulty of finding a parking space in the city of Lucerne. They handed out parking fines to the audience with a wink.
Mystical, cheeky and colorful
There were also mystical creatures, cheeky laundry wavers and Egyptian pharaohs. As every year, there were individual masks that creatively mixed up the official numbers and guuggen that celebrated carnival customs with fervor.
Thousands of carnival fans crowded along the parade route: from Schweizerhofquai via Kapellplatz to Fritschibrunnen and Seebrücke to the train station and on to Neustadt. The jesters thanked the Guuggen again and again with spontaneous applause.
The Wey parade follows on Güdismonday
After the parade, the Lucerne police announced that the carnival had so far been calm, peaceful and "without any significant incidents" throughout the canton. Several dozen carnival events and daily vigils took place on Wednesday evening and Thursday.
On Güdismontag, the second big carnival day, the Wey guild's daily vigil and the Wey parade will follow. This is almost identical to the Fritischium parade, but is then run as a parade by the Wey guild.
The Monstercorso on Tuesday evening marks the end of the carnival. Until then, parades, masked balls, Schnitzelbänke and Kafi-Schnaps are the order of the day in the carnival's home countries.
