{"id":9537,"date":"2018-01-26T16:58:10","date_gmt":"2018-01-26T16:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=9537"},"modified":"2018-01-26T16:58:10","modified_gmt":"2018-01-26T16:58:10","slug":"an-extraordinary-tradition-das-bloch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/an-extraordinary-tradition-das-bloch\/","title":{"rendered":"An Extraordinary Tradition &#8211; Das Bloch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>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 &#8211; a\u00a0<em>Bloch\u00a0<\/em>(Swiss word for &#8220;log&#8221;, 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&#8217;s going on here?\u00a0<em>S&#8217;Bloch\u00a0<\/em>shows it to you on the big screen with beautiful images. I will write a bit about it.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"S&#039;BLOCH | Official Trailer | Ab 25.01.18 im Kino\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AuPQc-xDOtw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is\u00a0<em>Das Bloch<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_9541\" style=\"width: 745px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9541\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9541\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/Appenzellerland-bloch-Route-Map.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"735\" height=\"652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/Appenzellerland-bloch-Route-Map.png 735w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/Appenzellerland-bloch-Route-Map-350x310.png 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-9541\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map with routes of different Bloch events. Directions of major cities are displayed for orientation (elaboration by author).<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The <em>Brauch\u00a0<\/em>(tradition), also known as\u00a0<em>s&#8217;Bloch<\/em> to locals,\u00a0takes place every\u00a0<em>ungerades Jahr\u00a0<\/em>(uneven year) on\u00a0<em>Fasnachtsmontag<\/em> (Fasting Night Monday), 48 days before\u00a0<em>Ostersonntag\u00a0<\/em>(Easter Sunday). A\u00a0<em>Fichtenstamm\u00a0<\/em>(spruce trunk) is traditionally used as\u00a0<em>das Bloch<\/em>. It is placed on a\u00a0<em>Fuhrwerk\u00a0<\/em>(wagon) and then pulled by 20 men from\u00a0Urn\u00e4sch. They pull it from Urn\u00e4sch to\u00a0the\u00a0<em>Nachbarorte\u00a0<\/em>(neighboring towns) Waldstatt, Hundwil and Stein. They then bring the\u00a0<em>Fichtenstamm\u00a0<\/em>back to the\u00a0<em>Dorfplatz\u00a0<\/em>(village square) of\u00a0Urn\u00e4sch. After the <em>Blochspruch\u00a0<\/em>(&#8220;log phrase&#8221;), a small rhyme, it is\u00a0<em>versteigert\u00a0<\/em>(auctioned off) to the highest\u00a0<em>Bieter\u00a0<\/em>(bidder). The day ends with a great celebration.<\/p>\n<p>During the day, there are all kinds of interesting characters. There is a\u00a0<em>Schmied\u00a0<\/em>(blacksmith) on the\u00a0<em>Bloch<\/em>, the\u00a0<em>Bloch\u00a0<\/em>is accompanied and pulled by men dressed in outfits related to wood (for example a\u00a0<em>Tischler\u00a0<\/em>(carpenter)), and there even is someone in a\u00a0<em>B\u00e4renkost\u00fcm\u00a0<\/em>(bear costume). The bear does all kinds of fun stuff with the locals.<\/p>\n<p>There are wonderful pictures of this tradition, but due to copyright issues, I cannot display them here. Do have a look at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.appenzellerlinks.ch\/Appenzellerland\/Fotogalerien\/album\/Urnaescher%20Bloch\/index.html\">this photo gallery<\/a>\u00a0&#8211; There are some great shots!<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Children smoking?!<\/strong><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_9538\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/flic.kr\/p\/y9hWd\" aria-label=\"Bloch Kid Smoke\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9538\" class=\"wp-image-9538 size-full\"  alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"402\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/bloch-kid-smoke.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/bloch-kid-smoke.jpg 630w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/bloch-kid-smoke-350x223.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-9538\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by Renee at Flickr.com under license CC BY 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n<p>One week later, children from the\u00a0<em>Nachbard\u00f6rfer\u00a0<\/em>(neighboring villages) pull a\u00a0<em>Bloch\u00a0<\/em>through the towns. During this <em>Buebebloch\u00a0<\/em>(&#8220;Boy Bloch&#8221;) on that\u00a0<em>Blochmontag<\/em>, 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\u00a0<em>Bloch\u00a0<\/em>in a\u00a0<em>Dorf<\/em>, they light up a cigarette.<\/p>\n<p>On this same day, the\u00a0<em>Herisauer Bloch\u00a0<\/em>takes place, another tradition held by adult men. They take a different route via Schwellbrunn, which you can see in the map above.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why are they doing it?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_9542\" style=\"width: 760px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/Q0mDOn9gWk8\" aria-label=\"Bloch\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9542\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9542\"  alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/bloch.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/bloch.jpg 750w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/bloch-350x233.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-9542\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Image by Markus Spiske at Unsplash.com)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>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\u00a0<em>Holzf\u00e4ller\u00a0<\/em>(lumberjack) were happy that they had an entire\u00a0<em>Bloch\u00a0<\/em>after successful\u00a0<em>Holzschlag\u00a0<\/em>(woodcutting). To celebrate, they pulled the\u00a0<em>Bloch\u00a0<\/em>through the\u00a0<em>Dorf\u00a0<\/em>(village). There is no religious meaning to this tradition, so other than for fun, there are no (spiritual) reasons for doing it!<\/p>\n<h3><strong>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!<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"233\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/bloch-350x233.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/bloch-350x233.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/01\/bloch.jpg 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>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 &#8211; a\u00a0Bloch\u00a0(Swiss word for &#8220;log&#8221;, a tree trunk) is hauled from one place through the villages, and finally back to the starting place. So it did not really go&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/an-extraordinary-tradition-das-bloch\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":9542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,913],"tags":[358430],"class_list":["post-9537","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-traditions","tag-traditions-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9537"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9543,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9537\/revisions\/9543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}