Culture of Switzerland Culture of Switzerland Switzerland lies at the crossroads of several major European cultures. Three of the continent's major languages, German, French and Italian, are national languages of Switzerland, along with Romansh, spoken by a small minority. Therefore, Swiss culture is characterized by diversity, which is reflected in a wide range of traditional customs. The 26 cantons also account for the large cultural diversity. Not withstanding the regional disparities, the Alps have played an essential role in shaping the history and culture of Switzerland. The region of the Gotthard Pass became the nucleus of the Swiss Confederacy in the early 14th
Child labour in Switzerland Switzerland do need the help of their children on occasion of the harvests in late summer. That's the reason why in the more rural cantons there are still much more longer summer holidays, granted by the governmental public schools, then in the urbanized cantons where there are usually five weeks summer holidays in July and August. As in many other countries, child labour affected among the so-called "Kaminfegerkinder" ("chimney sweep children") also children working p.e. in spinning mills, factories and in agriculture in 19th-century Switzerland. In the Swiss pre-industrial society, as well in other European countries, the children often were