Yesterday, a new film premiered. The documentary shows a more than 200 years old tradition in the Appenzellerland, a region in Switzerland. It is quite useless – a Bloch (Swiss word for “log”, a tree trunk) is hauled from one place through the villages, and finally back to the starting place. So it did not really go anywhere. What’s going on here? S’Bloch shows it to you on the big screen with beautiful images. I will write a bit about it.

What is Das Bloch?

Map with routes of different Bloch events. Directions of major cities are displayed for orientation (elaboration by author).

The Brauch (tradition), also known as s’Bloch to locals, takes place every ungerades Jahr (uneven year) on Fasnachtsmontag (Fasting Night Monday), 48 days before Ostersonntag (Easter Sunday). A Fichtenstamm (spruce trunk) is traditionally used as das Bloch. It is placed on a Fuhrwerk (wagon) and then pulled by 20 men from Urnäsch. They pull it from Urnäsch to the Nachbarorte (neighboring towns) Waldstatt, Hundwil and Stein. They then bring the Fichtenstamm back to the Dorfplatz (village square) of Urnäsch. After the Blochspruch (“log phrase”), a small rhyme, it is versteigert (auctioned off) to the highest Bieter (bidder). The day ends with a great celebration.

During the day, there are all kinds of interesting characters. There is a Schmied (blacksmith) on the Bloch, the Bloch is accompanied and pulled by men dressed in outfits related to wood (for example a Tischler (carpenter)), and there even is someone in a Bärenkostüm (bear costume). The bear does all kinds of fun stuff with the locals.

There are wonderful pictures of this tradition, but due to copyright issues, I cannot display them here. Do have a look at this photo gallery – There are some great shots!

Children smoking?!

Image by Renee at Flickr.com under license CC BY 2.0

One week later, children from the Nachbardörfer (neighboring villages) pull a Bloch through the towns. During this Buebebloch (“Boy Bloch”) on that Blochmontag, an odd thing happens: Part of the tradition is that children smoke! You can see it in the trailer for the movie above as well. It is part of the tradition that when they show their Bloch in a Dorf, they light up a cigarette.

On this same day, the Herisauer Bloch takes place, another tradition held by adult men. They take a different route via Schwellbrunn, which you can see in the map above.

Why are they doing it?

(Image by Markus Spiske at Unsplash.com)

The custom has been going on for more than 200 years. It is an old lumberjack tradition, and it appears to be done because the Holzfäller (lumberjack) were happy that they had an entire Bloch after successful Holzschlag (woodcutting). To celebrate, they pulled the Bloch through the Dorf (village). There is no religious meaning to this tradition, so other than for fun, there are no (spiritual) reasons for doing it!

What do you think about this tradition? Fun, or just exhausting and useless? Do you have such a tradition in your country? Let me know in the comments below!