Ubersitz, a Swiss custom that sets a valley in turmoil

Come on, evil spirits, return to the realm of the dead! Such expulsions of ghosts of all kinds are practiced in many places in Switzerland, and are traditionally celebrated around the winter solstice.

In the Haslital in the eastern Bernese Oberland, people ward off evil spirits with drums and cowbells (cow bells, also called trychels).

The custom called Ubersitz (should under no circumstances be pronounced with Ü in the region!) is considered the most important folk festival in the surrounding area. The population then braves the cold and fatigue for several days and nights.

Although similar traditions such as “Klausjagen” or “Silvesterchlausen” exist in other parts of the country, the combination of cowbells, drums, masks and village idiosyncrasies is unique.

An attraction for the public

Ubersitz is still an extremely vibrant tradition today and is passed down from generation to generation. The custom has also become an attraction, and not only for tourists who come to Haslital at this season for winter sports.

The parades begin at the beginning of the last week of the year, on the night of December 25 to 26, and end on the penultimate working day of the year, this year December 30, with the Ubersitz itself said. During this big parade in the center of Meiringen, a few thousand people line the streets every year.

According to several sources, such expulsions of spirits date back to pre-Christian times and are based on Celtic traditions around the winter solstice (usually December 21). But how exactly should we imagine these parades through the municipalities of Haslital?

Each village cultivates its particularities

The custom is practiced very differently. It takes place in seven villages or parts of villages: Meiringen, Willigen, Hausen, Isenbolgen, Innertkirchen, Gadmen and Guttannen. All have their own procession formation and personal instruments.

Before meeting up for the Ubersitz in the capital of Meiringen, the participants noisily wander through their village for a few days and nights. The focus is on the night. In the afternoon, we sleep.

Some processions of trychels number more than 100 people. Young and old can take part. As with the Graubünden Chalandamarz custom, however, everyone must respect strict rules. Who walks at what position in the procession, who can use which bell, etc.

It is not obligatory to mask or disguise yourself. For example, some people wear the “Mutz”, the traditional vest, or civilian clothes. In four villages, including Meiringen, people transform into “Boozeni”, elderly and well-groomed women. In others, we dress up as witches.

Witches are very present in the parade.

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Each village has its own train. The instruments follow a very specific rhythm. “This pace is not comparable to a military march,” we can read on the website of Haslital TourismusExternal linkwhere the custom is described in detail. The rhythm requires participants to take a “slow, sliding step, while the upper body swings the bell or trychel in a rhythmic manner”.

According to testimonies from the population, the Ubersitz also differs from other traditional processions in Switzerland by the emphasis placed on musical harmony between drums, trychels and bells. They are perfectly harmonized in each procession, it is claimed.

>> How is the Ubersitz in Meiringen? Here is a video of the 2022 edition:

Special figures

The Ubersitz knows some strange figures, unknown in other Swiss customs. Thus, in certain villages, it is the “Huttenwybli” who leads the procession of trychels, an elderly woman who carries her husband in a hat (backpack).

In the Isenbolgen district of Meiringen, the “Wurzelmandli” and “Wurzelfroueli” precede the parade. But from year to year, we can observe new characters in the deafening procession.

Visitors who are too curious should be wary of one character in particular: between the trains, white or black versions of the beaked goat, particularly bizarre and unique in its kind, act out.

The “Schnabelgeiss”, a traditional creature, which preferably frightens children and spectators.

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If you venture too close to the musical groups parading slowly, the beaked goat, which looks like a giraffe with goat's horns, will pinch you with its beak. “Or she steals the headgear,” as the Haslital Tourismus website specifies.

A journal in its own right

Another unique fact: the custom is accompanied by a temporary newspaper with a large circulation, the “Ubersitzler”. The texts are written in “Haslidiitsch” anonymously, as specified by the daily “Frutigländer” in 2020External link.

A procession in Meirigen in 1947.

A. Huber, CC BY-SA 4.0

This newspaper, which has existed since the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, is the subject of many rumors. Indeed, the absolute anonymity of the authors allows them to write bluntly on all the subjects and all the people who have marked Haslital.

Some “aggrieved” people have already threatened them with lawyers and prosecution, the anonymous committee said in 2004 in an interview with the newspaper “Jungfrau-Hasler”External link. But there was never a trial.

Proofread and verified by Balz Rigendinger