# @kirstenalana on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Bru_OOsB9z_
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/2429700-kirstenalana-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/f72db705ae.jpg
- **Posted:** 2018-12-23T15:03:42.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Kirsten Alana (@KirstenAlana) — https://gondola.cc/KirstenAlana

## Caption

L’Escalade is the annual event in Geneva that celebrates the defeat of the Duke of Savoy’s troops in 1602. It is celebrated on the weekend closest to December 11 & 12 with costumed participants in the hundreds roaming the Old Town re-enacting parts of the attempted surprise attack and the resulting victory. The woman in this photo in the black cape is one such participant and when we turned a corner to see her alone in this scene - @mumhad1ofthose, @monicasuma and I started taking pictures at rapid fire speed. The scene seemed to firmly place us into the past even as the modern sound of our cameras kept us grounded to the present, wondering where @neumarc was as this all happened.
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Later we learned that the name for the festival comes from the French “escalade” which translates the English “scale” or “climb” because the Duke’s troops attempted to scale the city’s fortified walls but legend has it that they were thwarted by a woman named Catherine who poured a large cauldron of steaming soup on them as they climbed. The noise of that confrontation woke the city and its militia then successfully defended Geneva from the Catholic Savoy troops.
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The celebrations we experienced went beyond 
re-enactment to include a flame and candle-lit parade once darkness fell and a symbolic breaking of many cauldrons molded from Swiss Chocolate which hide marzipan vegetables inside to simulate the soup that was poured onto the troops. For the local families, Friday of the celebratory weekend sees the eldest and the youngest children smashing the chocolate pot while exclaiming, “Ainsi périrent les ennemis de la République!” (Thus perish the enemies of the Republic!) ❤️🇨🇭 #VisitGeneva #BetterTogether

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## Tags

visitgeneva, bettertogether

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