Our Culture
Switzerland is a country with many different cultures. During the centuries, countless peoples reached the land between the Black Forest and the Alps. They brought traditions from their homelands and mixed with the peoples who already lived there. Many tales and tradition wandered over the language borders: The spring fires burn not only in Switzerland, but also in parts of Austria, Germany and France. The tales of the host of the dead is also known to the retoromanic people in Engiadina and some francoprovencalic communitiesin Jura. Every valley has it‘s own legends customs and dialects – heathen Switzerland is full of cultural diversity.
The last great immigration took place more than thousand years ago, when peasant warriors from northern Europe moved to the Alps. During the century, they cultivated more and more areas in the mountains and even moved to the remote valley of the Savoys. Today, the alemannic language is spoken in an area ranging from the Black Forest to Northern Italy. Especialy in the southern parts, were the valleys are separated by mountains ranges who reach more than 4000 m of heights, the dialects are still very archaic. The Tiitsch of the italian Walsers is as complex and archaic as Icelandic…
The roots of the alemannic cultures go back to roman times. In the 3rd century, the gaulish civil war attracted mercenaries from northern Europe. They stemmed from germanic tribes. Since in these societies, only one son was allowed to inherit the hof of the father, there were many young man who had to leave home. They were hired by warlords who went to the south. After years of chaos, these warrior clubs started to stay in south during the winter. They were followed by groups of adventurers, who where looking for a better future in the South. Groups of germanic peasants startet to settle near the Rhine.
In the first centuries, they lived a rather primitive live. They built their farmsteads in forested and mountainous areas, while the celtic population stayed in the warmer and more fertile regions. Every family had an own small hamlet, where they worked together with their farm labourers. They lived on poor porridge, milk and cheese. Though they had some pure fields with oat, their main activity was cattle breeding: The more cows a man owned, the richer he was. Since the Hof could only be inherited by one son and marriage was only possible for those who owned a farm, many young man left their homes and joined local warlords, who fought for the romans, but sometimes also plundered the galloroman cities. Thus, the alemannic became the “vikings of central Europe” and were threatening the stability of the new christian empires as the Kingdom of the Franks. In 496, the Franks responded: The alemannic tribes were defeated by their army.
In the remote valley of the Alps, the old alemannic way of life stayed the same until the late middle ages. When the rest of Europe was dominated by church and kings, the people of central Switzerland were still free peasants, owning their own land, choosing their leaders at the Landsgemeinde and fighting in the state of holy rage, wrapped in furs and incited by the sound of horns. These free communities became the backbone of the latter Swiss Eidgenossenschaft. The memory of the great migration from the north was kept alive for a long time: Even in the late 18th century, people in the mountain told, that their forefathers had come here from the far north during a time of need and hunger…
During the first centuries of the settlement, the alemannic farmsteads stood side by side with celtic and roman villages. People married, and the cultures mixed. Thus, the alemannic culture is an amalgam of Elements from northern, gaulish and mediterranean origin. This mixture can also be seen in our pagan traditions: A lot of customs are related to the use of wine and fruit trees, which had been brought to middle Europe by the Romans. The Kuhreihen and Alpsegen, magical chants for the protection of cattle, go back to the Celts, still using the celtic word „loba“ for cow. Other traditions, as the midwinter festivities, are closely related to scandinavian customs.