A Swiss tradition

Last night Glenn's partner, Kat, told us about a tradition in Switzerland, called désalpe, when the cows that have been on pasture in the mountains over the summer months are brought down to the valleys for the winter. Flowers around each cow's neck and the people dress in traditional costumes to walk them down through the village streets. Kat had seen it that day in a small village in the mountains. It's a noisy parade because each cow also has large clanging bells around their neck.

Désalpe parade, Berne, Switzerland

So you can imagine my delight when we happened to be in the main street of Berne today when the clanging cow bells drew a crowd to watch a parade of about thirty cows. All that was needed to keep the cows under control was a single yellow rope at each side. I was somewhat amused to see a man with a shovel and wheelbarrow trailing the mob. Berne is quite a distance from a high mountain so I presume this particular parade was more of a tourist event.

This week we've heard cows with bells, bicycles with bells, sheep with bells and town clocks with bells and churches with bells.