Our Tradition
Most Swiss feasts take place in winter. According to old folk believes, this is the time when the dead come to visit the living. In many valleys, food is set out for the ancestors – milk, bread, cream, sometimes sweet porridge. During the midwinter nights, the tremendous noise of horns, bells and whips roars through the wintery landscape. Young men in masks and furs march through the villages and spread an ambiance of fear and terror. They don‘t feel the grim cold, the weigth of the heavy, iron forged bells, the lack of sleep and the exhaustion after hours and hours of marching through the night: They are possessed by a holy fury. In ancient times, these were the young warriors of the tribe who rushed through the valleys and afflicted the homesteads. The joined with the Wuotisheer – the ghostly host of Wuodan. Even today, you can catch a glimps of the holy furor when you visit the midwinter feasts in the valleys of the Alps.
The arrival of spring ist celebrated with huge bonfires. These Funka are built up by the youth of the community an sometimes reach 30 m in height. The enormous heat melts the snow around the fire place. Blazing diks are driven into the night sky. The further they fly, the luckier is the love of the shooter. Spring is also a time of witches. At Fasnacht, men dress as old women and rush through the villages. These celebrations are like a warm Foehn storm in spring, when the wild winds from south blow with hot fury through the shady valleys and chase away the demons of winter as they melt away the foul snow.
At the beginning of summer, many villages are again visited by a strange figure: The Wild Man comes from the woods, originally clothed in nothing than green branches and moss. He dances along the streets and splashes the young girls with water. Beside this rather cheerful and erotic custom, there is another important event in summer: The Landsgemeinde. On one of the first summer sundays, the free men and women the valley gather to choose their leaders and to vote by raising their hand. In some Cantons, the Landsgemeinde is still the official legislative body of the state.
Autumn ist a time of big feasts. When the crops had been harvested and the herders had come down from their summer pastures, the rural communities had a time of plenty. Eating, drinking and dancing are still the main activities at a typical Chilbi. In the warmer regions, this is the time when the first sweet wine is opened. The autumnal feasts are often combined with markets, where everyone enjoys himself with sweets and schnapps.
Many traditions are linked to the grand turning points in life: birth, marriage and death. They often take place in the house, were there is a sacred corner, sometimes called Herrgottswinkel. Mostly, the celebrations has to do with bred, cheese and wine – symbols for the gifts of the land and the tradition of the people. Newborn children were laid on the earth and washed with wine and fresh water, the marriage was affirmed by a glass of wine, that was shared by groom and bride. After death, the body was washed and laid out in the Herrgottswinkel, so everyone could come in and bid the deceased goodbye. Finally, he was put into the Totenbaum, a coffin made of the trunk of an entire tree. Sometimes, bread, cheese and wine was given into this Totenbaum.
These feasts of life were hold in the house. In the warm Stube, the only heated room, there was a special corner with pictures of Saints and deceased *Ancestors". In this warm room, the Children were born and the dead were laid out. In the long midwinter nights, the family sat around the table and had ther meal of cream, while the horns and bells of the masked hordes roared through the cold.