Archive for the 'Switzerland' Category
“What is European is [...] the manifestation of all energies, including the individual ones, in the form of monuments, plastic representations, words, institutions, parties; the personal experience of every tendency of spiritual life; the aspiration of the spirit to make known everything it contains, never surrendering without protest to world monarchies or theocracies, as they do in the East.”
- Jacob Burckhardt, quoted by Lionel Gossman in: “Basel In The Age of Burckhardt – A Study In Unseasonable Ideas”.
Swiss wrestling (German Schwingen, colloquially Hoselupf) is the Swiss variant of folk wrestling. It is considered a Swiss national sport, even more prominent than Hornussen and Steinstossen.
The roots of Schwingen in Switzerland have not been determined. A picture from the 13th century (in the Cathedral of Lausanne) shows the typical way of gripping the opponent. In central Switzerland and in the Swiss plateau, mainly on the northern rim of the Alps, the Hosenlupf (literally: “trouser lifting”) was common in public festivities. The prize at many alp festivals was a piece of trouser cloth, a sheep or other natural prizes.
The first alp herder’s festival in Unspunnen (Unspunnenfest) 1805 brought a revival of Schwingen. At that time, Switzerland had been invaded by France. The goal of this festival was to reinforce the Swiss national consciousness.
“The bourgeois prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to the deathly inner consuming fire.” – Herman Hesse