Aperschnalzen (

Austro-Bavarian Bavarian (; ), alternately Austro-Bavarian, is a group of Upper German varieties spoken in the south-east of the German language area, including the German state of Bavaria, most of Austria, and South Tyrol in Italy. Prior to 1945, Bavaria ...

''Apaschnoizn'') is an old tradition of competitive

whipcracking Whipcracking is the act of producing a cracking sound through the use of a whip. Used during livestock driving and horse riding, it has also become an art. A rhythmic whipcracking belongs to the traditional culture among various Germanic peoples ...

revived in the first half of the 20th century in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

and

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

. The word "aper" means "area free of snow" in the Bavarian language. The Aperschnalzen involves the rhythmic snapping and cracking of a whip up to 4 m in length (called "Goassl" in Austro-Bavarian) and takes place at the end of January and early February. It is performed in small groups ("Passen" in Bavarian) of 7, 9 or 11 members each.Aperschnalzen (austria-lexikon.at)
/ref> It has been thought that this tradition had a pagan meaning of "driving the winter away" by whipcracking. File:Whipcracking Aperschnalzen.jpg, The whip File:Whipcracking Aperschnalzen Detail.jpg, Different whip models File:Whipcracking Aperschnalzen the Cracker.jpg, The cracker

References

* Andrea Euler-Rolle: ''Zwischen Aperschnalzen und Zwetschkenkrampus. Oberösterreichische Bräuche im Jahreskreis''. Landesverlag, 1993.
Why Whips Crack

External links

{{Commons category
Homepage Schnalzer Association

''Burschen beim Aperschnalzen'' (Video)

Culture of Altbayern Whip arts