Schwingen Fest – 22nd June 2008 …

i know i know – it’s a little late to blog about something that happened a month ago – but … things happened & plans to blog were put on hold – sigh! Not to mention the photos weren’t downloaded till recently – hehhehee 😉

So what is a Schwingen Fest? Well, it’s traditional Swiss Wrestling! i have heard much about it in the last couple of years & this year an opportunity presented itself for us to go. Us meaning Tobias & myself, along with our friends Samuel & LiPing & their little gals, Natalie & Nicole. Oh we met our friends Ha & her little gal, Slyvie there too.

How is this Schwingen played? Well, 2x men stand in a ring of sawdust & they try to floor the other guy – basic wrestling stuff – but the difference is that you would have to pin both shoulder blades of your opponent to the ground before being declared the winner. Not an easy task! It was interesting watching the different tactics used. We (meaning Walter & myself) enjoy watching Sumo Wrestling & this was a little bit like that – so i enjoyed it. (Oh forgot to say that my poor hubby was in the US for work in June so was unable to come with us – next time). We found out that there are annual events & then there is the super big event every 3 or 4 years – we just went to an annual one on the Schwarz See (Black Lake) in Fribourg this year.

Here’s a look at what Schwingen looks like:

Here’s what the winner of the whole event stands to get – there are things like bicycles, household stuff, huge cow bells, clocks etc:

In addition, there was also a just-for-fun Stone Throwing event on the sidelines:
Mens Stone Throwing

Womens Stone Throwing

It was a nice little trip put together by Network Relocation (relocation experts in Switzerland – they should pay me for advertising for them – hahhaa). We paid 1x price & got bussed to the event, had front row seats, had lunch provided for (so no need to eat just bread & sauages which is the normal fare at these events) & we got bussed back. It was an incredibly hot day that day – so the kids got to have ice cream. See all the lovely “ice-cream-faces” 😉

Actually it was rather boring for the kids. After the initial excitement of watching these men throw each other to the ground & trying to do the same to each other, the kids sort of wanted to leave. There was a beautiful lake but we had no swim things & were near the muddy section of the lake. So the kids ran around & drew on the little bits of paper i had & improvised a little slide from some wooden planks. But it was a nice outing as they had each other to play with & everyone enjoyed the day.

Oh & of cos there was Swiss Folk Music – what traditional Swiss event would be complete without one! They also had a Yodeling group singing while the wrestling was happening but we were too far to get a good picture – so here’s a picture of some Swiss Folk Musicians: