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Swiss Folklore
Swiss folklore describes a collection of local stories, celebrations, and customs of the alpine and sub-alpine peoples that occupy Switzerland. The country of Switzerland is made up of several distinct cultures including German, French, Italian, as well as the Romansh speaking population of Graubünden. Each group has its own unique folkloric tradition. Switzerland has always occupied a crossroads of Europe. While Switzerland has existed as an alliance and country since 1291, the Swiss as a culture and people existed well before this time. Before the Swiss, the region was occupied by Pagan and later Christian Germanic tribes, which would become the Swiss. Before the Germanic peoples, the region was occupied by Roman and Gallo-Roman populations. Finally, before the Romans the Celtic Helvetii lived in what would become Switzerland. In addition to conquest, Switzerland has been a crossroads of Europe since at least the Roman Empire. Constant movement of cultures and ideas into Sw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ubersitz
The Ubersitz is a traditional custom in Hasli, Bernese Oberland, Switzerland. On Christmas day, at nightfall, schoolboys begin with '' Treichlen'', walking through the villages in small troops, sounding giant cow-bells. The following nights, the boys are joined, and later replaced, by adult men. The Trychling culminates on 30 December (or the last workday before that date), with the ''Ubersitz'' in Meiringen. On this day, the ''Treichler'' are carrying frightening masks (except for the people of Unterbach and Hasliberg Hasliberg is a Swiss municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the canton of Bern. Hasliberg is situated on a south-west facing terrace above the valley of the river Aare. The four villages spread out along this terrace a ... who remain unmasked) The different Treichel groups Meiringen The Treichel group of Meiringen is the largest one, amounting up to nearly 200 people. They have cow bells and drums and are masked very variously fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sechseläuten
The ''Sechseläuten'' ( Zürich German: ''Sächsilüüte'', "The six o'clock ringing of the bells") is a traditional spring holiday in the Swiss city of Zürich celebrated in its current form, usually on the 3rd Monday of April, since the early 20th century. Burning of the Böögg Following the parade of the Zünfte (guilds), the climax of the holiday is the burning of Winter in effigy, in the form of the ''Böögg'', a figure of a snowman prepared with explosives. The custom of burning a rag doll called ''Böögg'' predates the ''Sechseläuten''. A ''Böögg'' (cognate to '' bogey'') was originally a masked character doing mischief and frightening children during the carnival season. The neighborhood association ''Zum Kratz'' has burned a ''Böögg'' each year, but originally the effigy represented some yearly disaster such as the influenza. The burning was also partially a protest against the demolition of the neighborhood ''Zum Kratz'', which was accomplished around 1890. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schützenfest
A Schützenfest (, '' marksmen's festival'') is a traditional festival or fair featuring a target shooting competition in the cultures of Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. At a Schützenfest, contestants compete based on their shooting abilities, for example, by shooting at a wooden representation of an eagle. The competition's winner becomes the ''Schützenkönig'' ("king of marksmen") until the following year's competition. The commercially-organized Hanover Schützenfest, Germany, is the largest marksmen's funfair in the world with more than 7,000 marksmen, 250 rides and inns, five large beer tents, and the "Marksmen's Parade". The parade, with more than 10,000 participants from Germany and all over the world and more than 100 bands, is long. It is the longest parade in the world. The landmark of the funfair is one of the highest transportable big wheels (US = Ferris wheels) in the world. It is high and offers seating for 420 people in 42 cabins. Histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saint Nicholas Day
Saint Nicholas Day, also called the "Feast of Saint Nicholas", observed on 6 December (or on its eve on 5 December) in Western Christian countries, and on 19 December in Eastern Christian countries using the old church Calendar, is the feast day of Saint Nicholas, Saint Nicholas of Myra; it falls within the season of Advent. It is celebrated as a Christian festival with particular regard to Saint Nicholas' reputation as a bringer of gifts, as well as through the attendance of church services. In the European countries of Germany and Poland, boys have traditionally dressed as bishops and begged alms for the poor. In the Portuguese city of Guimarães, the Nicolinas, a series of festivities in honor of Saint Nicholas, happen every year. In Poland and Ukraine children wait for St. Nicholas to come and to put a present under their pillows provided that the children were good during the year. Children who behaved badly may expect to find a twig or a piece of coal under their pillows. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Klausjagen
The Klausjagen ("Nicholas chase") festival takes place in the Swiss town of Küssnacht on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day. The festival, attended each year by about 20,000 people, consists of a parade of around 1,500 participants, and lasts far into the night. History The procession is believed to have its roots in pre-Christian pagan traditions involving the chasing of wild spirits (compare Wild Hunt). The early forms of the Klausjagen involved much unruliness and noise, and were frowned upon by Church and authorities, and were officially outlawed in 1732, but could not be effectively suppressed. In the late 19th century, the custom was instead "Christianized" and bishop's mitres first appeared in the procession. accessed 13 December 2016 In the 1920s, the still rather rough procession was tamed by a c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rapperswil
Rapperswil (Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dialectologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld/Stuttgart/Wien 2005, and Éditions Payot, Lausanne 2005, , p. 727. short: ''Rappi'') is a former municipality and since January 2007 part of the Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality of Rapperswil-Jona in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster (Wahlkreis), See-Gaster in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of St. Gallen (canton), St. Gallen in Switzerland, located between ''Obersee (Lake Zurich), Obersee'' and the main part of Lake Zurich. Geography Rapperswil is located on the northern shore of Lake Zurich at the point at which the lake is cut in two by the Seedamm isthmus, which is an ice age moraine. The upper (or eastern) part of Lake Zurich is called ''Ob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eis-zwei-Geissebei
Eis-zwei-Geissebei is a Carnival festival held in Rapperswil (Switzerland) on Shrove Tuesday. History and origin Its origin may go back to the siege and destruction of the city of Rapperswil at St. Matthew in 1350 by Rudolf Brun, first mayor of the city of Zürich. At that time, compassionate citizens served food to hungry children through the windows of their houses, to which the current practice recalls. Today After the traditional "Herrenessen" (dinner of the council members) in the Rathaus Rapperswil and cabaret program with distinguished guests, hundreds of children gather in the main square on Shrove Tuesday. At exactly 15:15 the windows of the town hall open and a fanfare sounds. A council member asks, “''Sind alli mini Buebe doo?''” (Swiss German: Are all my boys here?), and the answer is given: “''Joo! Eis - Zwei - Geissebei!''” (Yes, one, two, goat-leg!), whereupon sausages, bread rolls and ''Biberli'' (a sweet) are dropped down to the children on the ''Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lent
Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Mark and Gospel of Luke, Luke, before beginning his Ministry of Jesus, public ministry. Lent is usually observed in the Catholic Church, Catholic, Lutheranism, Lutheran, Moravian Church, Moravian, Anglican Communion, Anglican, United and uniting churches, United Protestant and Eastern Orthodoxy, Orthodox Christian traditions, among others. A number of Anabaptism, Anabaptist, Baptists, Baptist, Methodism, Methodist, Calvinism, Reformed (including certain Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continental Reformed, Presbyterianism, Presbyterian and Congregational church, Congregationalist churches), and Nondenominational Christianity, nondenominational Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fasnacht
The Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht, Fasnacht (in Switzerland) or Fasnat/Faschnat (in Vorarlberg) is the pre-Lenten carnival of Alemannic folklore in Switzerland, southern Germany, Alsace and Vorarlberg. Etymology Popular etymology often links ''Fastnacht'' (in Mainz also ''Fassenacht'', in Switzerland ''Fasnacht'', in Swabia ''Fasnet'', ''Fasent'') with ''fasten'' ("to fast") – allegedly from celebrations on the eve preceding fasting. In the beginning of the 20th century it was a common assumption that the tradition had its roots in pre-Christian ritual. Comparison of dialect variants, however, yields an Old High German ''*fasanaht'', with an element ''fasa-'' of unclear meaning. A likely derivation looked to Proto-Indo-European ' "purify" (cognate to '' pava-mana''), or alternatively to Middle High German ''vaselen'' "prosper, bud", and interpreted the festival as a fertility rite. Historians around Werner Mezger refuted those theories, and showed that the name derives from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berchtold
Berchtold (also Berthold, Bertold, Bertolt) is a Germanic name from the Old High German ''beruht'' ('bright' or 'brightly') and ''waltan'' ('rule over'). The name came into fashion in the German High Middle Ages from about the 11th century. The cognate Old English name is Berhtwald or Beorhtwald, attested as the name of an archbishop in the 8th century. Berchtold was also the name of the leader of the Wild Hunt in German folklore of the 16th century. The name here replaces the female Perchta. People with the given name Notable people with the name or variants include: *Bertulf (archbishop of Trier) (died 883), in some chronicles attested as "Berthold" *Blessed Berchtold of Engelberg (died 1197), abbot People with the surname * Dietmar Berchtold (born 1974), Austrian football midfielder * Friedrich von Berchtold (1781–1876), Moravian botanist and physician * Joseph Berchtold (1897–1963), Nazi Party member and Reich Leader of the SS * Count Leopold Berchtold (1863–1942), Aust ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
