Brandons Payerne
Come and celebrate the 130th Brandons de Payerne!
We are pleased to announce that we are an official partner of the Brandons Payerne for the 3rd consecutive year.
Discover the wines of Union Vinicole de Cully from Friday March 7 to Monday March 10, 2025.
To find out more, visit the official Brandons website.
What are Brandons?
Derived from the German Brand (firebrand), the Brandons are the carnivals of northern Vaud. According to P. Hugger, this festival dates back to the Middle Ages, and was born “out of a need to let off steam before the constraints of Lent”. On the Sunday following Ash Wednesday, bonfires were lit (in the countryside or on hilltops) or torches were lit (in towns), and people danced around them in processions.
During the Ancien Régime, the religious authorities (who took a dim view of carnival festivities) and the political authorities (who feared excesses and fires) regularly tried to put a stop to them. In the 19th century, moralists and progressives (the Brandons were seen as old traditions) tried to put a stop to them.
By the 1960s, this goal had almost been achieved. But the Brandons of Payerne, Moudon and Yverdon (as well as the carnival of Sainte-Croix – which was “Brandons” until 1946) managed to rise from the ashes during the 1970s and 80s.
Today, the Brandons seem to be firmly established.
While each town has its own particularities (Tumulus and Chineuses evening in Payerne, annotated shop windows in Payerne and Moudon, the Brandons foot race in Yverdon, Carnaval radio and giant brooch in Sainte-Croix), the Brandons in the Vaud region at the beginning of the 21st century also have, in addition to the carnival spirit, common elements: 3 days of festivities with fancy-dress processions, various competitions, cacophonous music, floats, satirical newspaper and Bonhomme Hiver to burn.
In Switzerland, the term “Brandons” is specifically Vaudois and recalls the original form of this festival.
Citations
Vaud, 1597, Bernese ordinance, perhaps concerning Aubonne in particular:
“Item, ceux qui font les feux de mars à la façon des payens, qu’on appelle communément brandons ou chafferoux, et ceux qui font charivaris, sauvages et aultres desguisements et insollences comme à la levée de may… doibvent estre appellez au Consistoire et chastiez” (SCHULE, p.204)
Vaud, 1640, Loix et ordonnances du Consistoire de la ville de Berne… pour cy apres estre observées tant en la Ville, que au Pays:
“Itemons defend les feux et masquerades payennes qu’on faisoit le jour des Brandons”. (SCHULE, p.204-205)
In the Canton of Vaud
Payerne, Moudon, Yverdon, Sainte-Croix (carnival since 1985)