Swiss Festivals

This is a video I made last night in Küssnacht, a little town on the shores of Lake Lucerne.

The parade/evening is called "Klausjagen" and it's a custom that goes back to the Middle Ages when bad spirits were driven away by noise made from cowbells and cows' horns. The name literally means "chasing the klaus", a reference to St. Nicholas. 5 December is St. Nicholas' Day, but Klausjagen is the blending of the Catholic holiday with what is a much older celebration.

Over 200 men paraded through the darkened town (thankfully there was a pretty big moon last night!) wearing enormous, transparent and beautifullly designed bishops' mitres (known as Iffels) which are lit by candles. The largest Iffels are more than 2 metres high and weigh around 20 kg. To top it all off the procession includes (very loud) bell ringing (supposed to have been 1,000 last night), horn blowing, brass bands and whip crackers.

A good time was had by all. It had been snowing there in the morning, but the skies were mostly clear for us last night and the winds were calm, so it was grand. Some of us missed the bus to our train, so didn't make it back to Zürich until midnight.

Well worth the effort to get there though! A member of the Zug International Women's Assocation lives there and she had the 6 of us from Zürich in for appetizers and homemade pumpkin soup to warm us up before attending the parade. She showed us where best to stand and advised us to stay around for the 'instant replay' of the parade on another street, after most of the tourists had left, so we had perfect views of all of the procession for pictures (and videos) on that go-around. The locals party all night, making noise and celebrating. then at 6 am this morning, there was to be a final parade. Yikes, glad we came home!

Many thanks to Mary & Margaret and all. Great night. Great start to "Swiss Festivals" !!!

Tschüss ! Debra

   

Debra Taylor, 9 December 2011
pictures and video by Debra