Tigers, rabbits, National Day

tiger tiger tiger taking out July; the rabbits of August will soon leap in, bringing us Swiss National Day For which I will briefly re-run bits of two earlier postings. The first — from 7/2/26, “National days” — riffs on: my absurd pride in the remnants of Swissness that cling to me, most especially the egalitarian, aristocrat-free ideals the federation has espoused since the original alliance [of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden — a formula I memorized like a mantra in childhood] was formed in 1291, over 7 centuries ago; there is nothing like it in all of Europe. … Switzerland (celebrating 1291), the US (celebrating 1776), and Peru (celebrating 1821) all clearly have two aspects to their events: one, a celebration of independence, so of liberty and of freedom; and two, a celebration of community and its establishment (a history of community development will precede the break of independence, while establishment of a formal community will typically come later, and might not come at all,…