Tschäggättä. Tschwhata? A Swiss Valley’s Unique Carnival Celebration

Tschäggättä are frightening figures that wear furs, giant cowbells around their waists and carved wooden masks.  Every inch of the person underneath the costume is covered to prevent their recognition.  Tschäggättä walk the streets during Carnival waving large wooden sticks,  scaring and/or tossing soot (nowdays confetti) at their unsuspecting victims.  An unwritten rule, allows only unmarried men to do this.  Go figure.  Guys always try to arrange things so that they have all the fun.

It sounds like a rockin’ good time to me, but some may ask why? Tschäggättä stems from a time when winter cut the Lötschental Valley off from the outside world during winter.  It was fairly isolated the rest of the year.  Like many rural places, the church dominated many aspects of daily life.   Local peasants saw the time around Carnival as an opportunity to let off some steam, an expression of anarchy and rebellion.   Or, it could come from the heathen tradition of scaring away the spirits of winter.

The legend of Tschäggättä describes them as wild men, thieves from the no longer existing town (but poorer) across the valley that would come to steal.  The thieves dressed themselves up in frightening costumes to create fear and aid in their larceny.

Related articles

• Winter Carnival wins Event of the Year (travelnews.britishairways.com)
• Venice Carnival 2012 gets underway with exciting new theme (travelnews.britishairways.com)
• Lucerne’s Carnival Of Nightmares | HottestNewsFeed.com (rowdypat.wordpress.com)
• ‘Kölle Alaaf!’ It’s carnival season in Cologne (europe.eurostar.com)

 

We Fit Almost Every Swiss Cliche Into One Day

My mom has been visiting.  We wanted her to see as much Swissness as possible during her visit so we took her to Brig to see the Cow Festival.*  It was perfect.  I’m sure that if we brainstormed, we could fit a few more Swiss clichés into the day, but they hit all the big ones.

It was interesting to watch them try to move something so big that did not want to move.

We arrived in Brig a bit early and got to see the cows arriving.  They may walk down from alpine pastures, but they take trailers to the parade.  The cows are a special kind of Swiss cow that is raised almost exclusively in the Valais region, Herens.  These cows are known for being particularly aggressive.  In the spring, this area has cow fighting contests.  Here’s a YouTube clip for inquiring minds.

Do I look like I want to wear a flower hat?

I’m in love.  Again.  We had a connection.

My favorite part of the parade

Traditional costumes

This is the capital of raclette.  When in Rome…

What’s a parade without someone handing out samples of local wine?

They also baptise the crowd with wine. Yes, they really do. Check out the guy in the plaid shirt’s face.

Alphorns!  They sounded great echoing through the valley.

They handed out the apples decorating this float to the crowd.  They did not hand out the cauliflower.

I’m not sure if this is traditionally Swiss.

Carved woods signs announcing the top cows = uber Swiss

Note the ribbons.  That cow is all done up for a night on the town.

Mountain Reine National translates to National Mountain Queen.  She is the prize cow so to speak.  Do you think she won the smack down? 

Sometimes, the cows got really excited about hitting the grass at the end of the parade.

They were lined up according to number and set about eating (and, ahem,  answering nature’s call).

Another cute parade participant

Sorry I didn’t get any decent pictures of the goats.  They were unruly to say the least.

Other parade participants. It said “Heidi” across the back of the cart!

*In the end of September and beginning of October, Switzerland has festivals all over the country to celebrate cow’s descent from alpine pastures.  This was one such affair.