 In 1522 Huldrych Zwingli, who helped stir Protestant Reformation in Switzerland, said fasting laws were only human notions which had nothing to do with the Holy Writ.Nonetheless, the plagues of Basle (1541) and Berne (1565 and 1577) were followed by days of penitence and fasting, asking God for clemency and mercy.Geneva was a cradle of Protestantism and the Reformation.