Brandons Payerne
Come celebrate the Brandons de Payerne 2026!
We are pleased to announce that we are the official partner of Brandons Payerne for the fourth consecutive year.
Discover the wines of the Union Vinicole de Cully from Friday, February 20 to Monday, February 23, 2026.
Want to find out more? Visit the official Brandons website.
What are Brandons?
Derived from the German word Brand (torch), Brandons are carnivals in northern Vaud. According to P. Hugger, this festival, born out of “a need to let off steam before the constraints of Lent,” dates back to the Middle Ages. On the Sunday following Ash Wednesday, fires were lit (in the countryside or on high ground) or torches (in towns) and people danced around them and formed processions.
During the Ancien Régime, the religious authorities (who frowned upon carnival celebrations) and the political authorities (who feared excesses and fires) regularly tried to put a stop to them. In the 19th century, it was the defenders of morality and progress (the Brandons were seen as old traditions) who tried to stop them.
In the 1960s, they almost succeeded. But the Brandons of Payerne, Moudon, and Yverdon (as well as the Sainte-Croix carnival, which was a “Brandon” until 1946) managed to rise from the ashes in the 1970s and 1980s.
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 running race in Yverdon, Radio Carnaval and a giant brooch in Sainte-Croix), the Brandons of Vaud at the beginning of the 21st century also have, in addition to the spirit of carnival, some common elements: three days of celebration with costume parades, various competitions, cacophonous music, floats, a satirical newspaper and the burning of Bonhomme Hiver (Old Man Winter).
In Switzerland, the term “Brandons” is specific to Vaud and recalls the original form of this festival.
Quotes
Vaud, 1597, Bernese ordinance, possibly referring to Aubonne in particular:
“Item, those who light bonfires in March in the manner of pagans, commonly called brandons or chafferoux, and those who make noise, wild and other disguises and insolence as at the raising of May… shall be summoned to the Consistory and punished” (SCHULE, p.204)
Vaud, 1640, Laws and ordinances of the Consistory of the city of Bern… to be observed both in the city and in the countryside:
“Item, we forbid the pagan fires and masquerades that were held on Brandons Day.” (SCHULE, pp. 204-205)
In the Canton of Vaud
Payerne, Moudon, Yverdon, Sainte-Croix (carnival since 1985)