Marlies' Creative Universe

Fulehung Mask

Fulehung – The Jester with the Devil’s Mask

Now looking back to my childhood, I realize that I grew up with Swiss Native culture, too. My father was from the Canton of Bern and had a special mask called the “Fulehung”. The mask is worn by the “Fulehung” or chester in the parade that celebrates the annual sharpshooting competition of the City of Thun in the last week of September.

The Story of the Fulehung

The origin of this customs dates back to the Middle Ages. During the ‘Burgundy Wars’ the Swiss captured the court jester. They brought him back to the city of Thun and paraded him through the city streets where the city folks laughed at him. Since then he now does the same thing and chases through the city streets during the last week of September and scares the children. (German text)

More about the Fulehung this time from an English blog.

As a student in Grade 2, the school took us on our annual class trip to the reconstructed “Pfahlbau Dorf” Pile Dwelling Village of Unteruhldingen” in the Lake of Constance. I can remember it to this day like it was yesterday. It made a very big impression on me and I felt like I had come home.

When I first posted this article around 2000 there was not much info available.

Pile Dwelling Museum Unteruhldingen

But now this has changed, but most of the information is still in German.

This is the small article I found in English on Wikipedia:

Unteruhldingen is a small village, part of the town of Uhldingen-Mühlhofen, on the northwestern shore of Lake Constance, Germany. It is home to the Pfahlbauten, an open air museum displaying reconstructions of Neolithic and Bronze Age pile dwellings. The buildings are idealized reconstructions from between the 1922 and 1941, which were designed based on archeological digs of the Wasserburg Buchau at Federsee. After 1945 the museum was led by the controversial but knowledgeable archeologist Hans Reinerth, one of the leading Nazi archaeologists of the ‘Rosenberg’s department’. This museum has been expanded since to incorporate modern research.

• The Lake Dwelling Museum to the reconstructed building (German)
• Lake Dwelling Museum info from Wikipedia (German)

originally posted in 1999 in my old site

Recently when I talked to my mother in Switzerland she casually mentioned the “Ice Saints”. I asked her for an explanation as I don’t quite remember the logic behind it and she could not tell me either. So I went hunting for an explanation on the Internet. I found it interesting and decided to share it. Basically this weather folklore is very well known in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. Here is an English translation of the information I found in German about the “Eisheiligen”. (May 99)

Are the “Ice Saints” out of tune??

Many of the old weather rules are forgotten. Nowadays, we rather rely on the weather forecast of radio and television. The “Ice Saints” Pankratius, Servatius and Bonifatius as well as the “Cold Sophie” are known for a cooling trend in the weather between 12th and 15th of May. For centuries this well-known rule had many gardeners align their plantings after it. Observations of weather patterns over many years have shown, however, that a drop in temperature occurs frequently only around May 20. Are the “Ice Saints” not in tune anymore? The mystery solution is found in the history of our calendar system: Pope Gregory VIII arranged a calendar reform in 1582, whereby the differences of the Julian calendar could be corrected to the sun year to a large extent. The day of the “Cold Sophie” (May 15) was the date in the old callendar and corresponds to today’s May 22. Therefore the effects of the “Ice Saints” is felt in the timespan of May 19-22. Sensitive transplants should only be put in the garden beds after this date.

May 10, 2002: The Daily News, our local newspaper just had the following article, by Cindy Day the local meteorologist, about the “Ice Saints” in it.

The Icemen cometh …

“For some gardeners, the next three days are quite special. May 11, 12 and 13 are the feast days of saints Mamertius, Pancras (or Pancratius) and Gervais (or Gervatius). These three are known as the Three Chilly Saints, not because they were cold during their lifetimes, but because these days are tradtionally the coldest of the month. According to folklore, these days were most likely to bring a late frost. In Germany, they were called the “Eismänner”, or Icemen Days, and people believed it was never safe to plant until the Icemen were gone.

Today, most of us feel quite comfortable planting during the long weekend in May. But some gardeners, like Grandma, never put annuals in until after the full moon in May. This year the full moon is quite late in the month, not until the 26th. By the way, the full moon in May is the Full Planting Moon or the Full Grass Moon. I don’t think I’ll be able to hold off qite that long, but I will wait until the Icemen are gone.”

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This is a translation in my words of the German article on this page. A friend sent me the pictures, unfortunately they are from postcards,as his camera didn’t work. He said that there were around 150 Silvesterchlaeuse and it was a very impressive sight.

A ‘Silvesterclaus’ is a masked person and part of on old custom in the village of Urnaesch in the Kanton of Appenzell Ausserhoden, which by tradition is a protestant Kanton, where as Appenzell Innerrhoden is a traditional Catholic Kanton.

a group or Schuppel in a field

The custom celebrates the end of the year, both on December 31 and January 13, the old Silvester according to the old julian calendar. The reason for this date is, that when in the 16th century Pope Gregory XIII changed the calendar, 13 days were lost. Being a Protestant Kanton, the population did not recognize the new Catholic calendar and were not willing to give up the old julian calendar. So, stubbornly they still celebrate Silvester on the old date of January 13.

a group or Schuppel in front of a home

‘Silvesterchlaeuse’ go in small groups called ‘Schuppeln’ with big cow bells, masks and ornate headdresses yodeling wordless songs called ‘Zauren’ from house to house and wish the families blessings and happiness for the New Year and receive in return mulled wine and some money.

a group or Schuppel walking to another home

The masks represent both men and women, but because of the heavy weight of the bells and headdress only men participate in the custom. The whole outfit can weigh more than 30 kg (66 lbs).

There are 3 types of ‘Silvesterchlaeuse’:

• the pretty ones
• the ugly ones
• the pretty-ugly ones

The Ugly Ones
The ugly ones typically wear scary masks and their clothes are covered with leaves, straw and pine branches. The look has probably changed quite bit over the years. The look was most probably originally part of of a winter custom where with noise and hideous outfits all eerie and evil was chased away.

The Pretty-Ugly Ones
The pretty-ugly ones are the nature or forest ‘chlaeuse’. They don’t look as wild as the ugly ones. The clothing is carefully created with tree bark, pine cones and other natural materials. This type was first created in the 60er years of the 18th century.

The Pretty Ones
The pretty ones are know since the 19th century. They usually appear in groups of 6 or 7. The group consists of a ‘Vorrolli’(first figure), 4 or 5 ‘Schelli’ and a ‘Nachrolli’ (last figure).

A ‘Rolli’ is a figure that wears a traditional women’s costume and on the head a huge wheel-shaped headdress. On the upper part of the body they wear a leather harness with 13 round bells (Rolli).

A ‘Schelli’ is a figure that wears traditional men’s clothing and wide cantilevered very ornamental hats. On their breast and back they wear heavy bells which are tied together over the shoulders.

The headdress of both the ‘Rolli’ and the ‘Schelli’ is decorated with glass pearls, velvet and metal foils and other materials. In the niches of the headdress magnificent carvings represent scenes from the daily life.

During the festivities very young boys are initiated in this tradition. They wear a lighter version of the garments and bells but no masks. They look very charming according to my friend who was there.

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