The griffin is not really commemorated on that day, as the festival takes its name from one of the medieval guilds of the city. Vogel Gryff, the Day of the Griffin is held in turn on either the 13th, 20th, or 27th of January every year. The festival takes place in Kleinbasel (smaller Basel), the part of the city on the right side of the Rhine River, and it is a daylong event.
In 1225, the Prince Bishop of Basel had a bridge built that crossed the Rhine and this proved to be the road to riches for the bishop and the city of Basel. At that time, nothing more than a village could be found on the right hand side of the Rhine, but this village developed into a town within just a few years, and in 1285 it received the status of city from King Rudolf of Hapsburg. While the city of Basel was already largely independent of the bishop, the city of Kleinbasel was part of his property portfolio. In 1392, the nobles and the citizens of Basel bought Kleinbasel from the bishop in a joint-venture and merged the cities into one.
Under the circumstances, the merger was an unequal one, the people from the new city feeling treated as if they were servants invited to the lords table. This resentment shows still in the way the Day of the Griffin is conducted. In Kleinbasel, three guilds were responsible for manning the city walls. These guilds were not organised along strict professional lines, but were rather open to all professions and the lesser nobility. Each one took the name from the house they resided in (and changed names when relocating to another house). Each held the levy of new troops on a different day in January, and these levy days tended to end in a very festive and boozy mood. And each of them had a coat of arms with a shield bearer, namely a griffin, a lion, and a wild man. These shield bearers together with four jokers took to the streets during the festival and showed their special dance routines to the people as part of their levy day.
During the dance, the jokers collected money for the poor and the orphanage, and they still do so today. There were only three years during which these levy days did not end in festivals due to the humorless regime of Napoleon’s in the Helvetic Republic of 1798. In 1802, the festivals were on again, the first of them ending in general fisticuffs of guild members against the police. The guild members won. With the military reorganization of Switzerland, the levy part was ditched, and the guilds decided to hold their festivals together on one of the traditional days. Reading the signs of the times early, they also sold their individual guild houses and bought one together which they lease out, the money going to the still existing orphanage.
The day starts with the wild man getting on a boat outside the city walls accompanied by drum rolls and the frequent shooting of cannons. On the boat he shows off his dance, all the time facing the new city, and thereby showing his back to the old city. He is expected and greeted inside the city by griffin, lion, and jokers. Together, they make their way to the middle of the old bridge (Mittlere Brücke) where they show their dance together for the first time, again facing the new city and showing their backs to the old one.
The dancing goes on all afternoon. The dances are performed as a referential homage to the guild leaders in front of their homes, to the common guild house, and to the orphanage. If you want to join in the fun, there are only a few rules to follow: Don’t touch any of the masked figures. If you get hit by the tree the wild man is swirling about in his dance, this means a year of luck to you. And in the evening you have to go to one of the many small restaurants and eat liver and rösti (potatoes, cooked, skinned, scraped into stripes, then pan fried).
Further reading
Museum City: Basel
Christmas Trees Through History
Colourful Claims on FC Barcelona
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