Lets start with Silvesterchlausen. I'm not entirely sure what it stands for -- something to the effect of New Years Eve Lice. But it's in a Swiss-German dialect and so really, really not sure. All of this goes down in the Appenzell canton about 45 minutes from us. The Silvesterchläuse roam the streets. There are three types, known as «schöne Chläus», «wüeschti Chläus» und «Naturchläus». The beautiful «schöne Chläus» wear ornamental headgear depicting scenes from rural life, lovingly made by hand over hundreds of hours. The wild «wüeschti Chläus» and natural «Naturchläus» boast artful, wildly decorated hats, bonnets and masks. The activities start in the early morning hours with the lice walking from door to door singing and yodeling to wish everyone a Happy New Year. They stay out until midnight, visiting the inns in the vicinity during the evening.
The actual origin of the custom is unknown. Some accounts I read attribute it to an ancient fertility cult, some said it was part of the carnival customs, a few referred back to St Nicholas. A group of Chläus is called a «Schüppel». A Schüppel has two «Rolli» and a group of «Schelli». The Schelli have two large bells (front and back), while the Rolli wear suspender-like leather frames with round roller bells on them. They parade around town - kind of together, kind of not - in a random pattern (the town website even explicitly says they will not announce a parade route, you just have to find them). They then line up in a circle in front of their chose house, start ringing and jingling then sing three or four songs and jingle some more. The house residents reward the Schüppel with food (usually bread) and drink (usually beer). At the end, they wish everyone a Happy New Year and head off to the next house or business.
As we drove into the area, here's what we saw:
We knew we were on to something. The girls and I hopped out of the car and Adam left in search of parking. Next thing I knew they'd all joined up in the parking lot of the local gas station and started jingling and singing.
We caught up with Adam who had found some parking and then spent the better part of the next two hours wandering around this little town that makes Lometa, TX look like a metropolis listening for bells and singing.
I think we managed to find all three groups and at least 1/5th of the time knew what was going on so I called it a success.
We headed back home and got ready for our family NYE celebration. We had the most Swiss dinner we could come up with: fondue.
The tradition of kissing the person on your left when you lose something in the fondue pot is strong in our house. Let's just say Adam ended up with more than a peck or two from a certain 7-year-old.
We convinced the girls at about 8:30 that it was midnight. Considering they usually go to bed at 7:30 this felt like it was super late for them, plus some of the neighbors were already shooting off fireworks so we had some plausibility to the story. We lit our NYE sparklers (in banana muffins -- we do not need any more cake over here!) and sang Auld Lang Syne.
We got the girls to bed then Adam & I watched some of the College Football Bowl Games - the day games in the US were just getting going. We made it to midnight and everywhere around us lit up. It was this loud and bright for about 45 minutes into the new year.
The following morning we woke up to the most beautiful sight. What a way to start the year.
