segunda-feira, 18 de março de 2013

1. About



Set aside preconceptions of postcard scenery, chocolate and cheese, faceless bankers and spotless cities. The real Switzerland is anything but bland. This small, rugger, landlocked country at the heart of Europe is full of surprises. Largely victims of their own success, the Swiss have often been misunderstood. Having scaped the traumas of war in the last century, they did not have to rebuild a shattered society. Their neutrality, isolationism, and wealth have made them appear smug, and protective of their standard of living. In fact their protective has been hard-won. They were not always rich. Proud, industrious, fair-minded and creative, they have had a bad press.

Switzerland today is a model of peace and multicultural cooperation, yet historically the country was racked by conflict. Swiss mercenaries were a major export. The extraordinary act of will that brought together disparate social and regional groups against their common enemy in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was the glue that continues to hold the Confederation together today. Its decentralized political structure means that the cantons are largely autonomous, and retain their individual character. In this grassroots democracy real power lies with the people, who exercise it directly through frequent referendums. “Swissness” is, above all, a spirit of independence and of communal involvement.

In private life the Swiss are no less active and responsive. They respect the individual, which means that, while they appreciate clear thinking and direct talking, they avoid confrontation. They will never intrude, yet will willingly help out if asked. Making an effort, it is possible to find warmth, decency, wit, and intelligence.

This Blog reveals some of the hospitality dimension of this enigmatic country. It intends to navigate the readers through various aspects of Swiss life and society. There is an advice on meeting people, on how to behave in different situations and how to avoid making gaffes. It describes what is important to them, how they work, relax, and how they perceive foreigners. 

2. Land an People


Switzerland is one of he smallest countries in Europe and one of the most densely populated. Its landmass is only 41,285 square kilometres. The population of Switzerland is 7.3 million, and there are 176 people per square kilometre. Sixty-eight per cent of the Swiss live in urban areas and 32 percent in rural.

Made up of linguistic regions that mirror the cultures of its larger neighbors, Switzerland at first glance appears to be a peculiar and artificial entity, raising the question: “How did it all come together?”. Possibly this is something that the Swiss would be asking themselves today, had thye not been so busy being the responsible, active, and cooperative citizens of an extremely efficiently run country. Numerous factors have played a part in the formation of this unique republic – the people themselves, the geography, and the influence of outside powers.

Switzerland involved naturally within its own borders and continues to forge ahead on its own term on the European continent. This is not to say that it is immune to the political currents tugging at Europe today, but it implies both a history and positioning in the world that is founded on a certain mistrust of its neighbours. The common ground that brings the Swiss together as a people is not always clear. Perhaps the paradox of Swiss identity is best described in saying “unity but not uniformity”. For all its diversity, Switzerland is the most stable democracy in the world today.

There are four national languages in Switzerland: German, French and Italian. They enjoy equal status in Parliament, the federal administration, and the army. German is almost 64%, French 20%, Italian 6,5%, Romanish 0,5% and other 9%.


3. Food


Food plays a basic role in the cultural and social development of people, of course. This is expressed in any sayings, proverbs and customs. Proverbs like: “The way to a man’s heart is trough his stomach” and “ A man works as he eats” show that still nowadays popular thought still assumes that food influences the whole person, that one is what one eats.

Swiss cuisine originated like every regional cuisine in the world, namely, from local fruits, garden vegetables and the product of local domestic animals. At one time that was very little, since Switzerland was a poor country before “The Discovery of the Alps”. From very little available to eat, the housewife had to use all her skills and imagination to add variety to the menu. And what she managed to conjure up out of milk, chees, bread, corn, millet, fruits and later, potatoes, is amazing and full of variety – it is the foundation of Swiss cuisine!

In Switzerland, breakfast typically includes bread, butter or margarine, marmalade or honey, maybe some cheese or cereals, plus milk, cold or hot chocolate, tea or coffee.

Lunch may be as simple as a sandwich or a birchermüesli or it could be a complete meal.

Depending on what people had for lunch, dinner can be a full main course or just some bread, cheese, maybe some dried meat or any other light meal.

Drinks range from plain water, over different types of soft drinks including most internationally well known brands plus some local products, to a great variety of beers and wines. Hot drinks include many different flavors of tea and coffee.

Some traditional famous dishes:

Bürli (small bread): Bürli are small breads served for breakfast or at BBQ parties.





Birchermüesli: was invented around 1900 by Dr. Bircher, a pioneer of the biological health medicine and an early promoter of unprocessed food that retains its full nutritional value ("Vollwertkost" meaning "whole foods diet")


Fondue: this is probably the most famous swiss menu. Fondue is made out of molten cheese. We eat it by dipping small pieces of bread in the molten cheese. The secret lies in the right mixture of different flavors of cheese. Typically, fondue is served on cold winter days, but many restaurants serve it all round.



“Apfelküchlein" (deep fried apple cookie): taste great either warm or cold, with or without vanilla sauce


"Brunsli" (Swiss brownies): a traditional Swiss Christmas treat.



"Zimtsterne" (Cinnamon cookies) are another traditional, very delicious Christmas treat.



Rüebli Kuchen (Carrot cake): It could be made as a cake - as shown here - or even more often as a pie. Often, it is decorated with little carrots made out of marzipan.

4. Holidays and Festivals


Traditional customs are alive and well all over Switzerland, whit a rich variety not only from region to region, but also from village to village.  Religious festivals, the farming year, and the events of history, national and cantonal, are all celebrated in the one way or another. If Swiss daily life is a bit too rigid, the festivals are energetic, magical and occasionally eccentric customs another side of Swiss.
Eating and drinking was and is one of the most important socially customs in everyday life and at celebrations. The feeling of belonging arises today in most cases even without the belief in the cohesive effect of the food, simply due to physical proximity of the group at the table and due to the vitalizing effects of food and drink. The closest social unit, the family, meets daily to eat together. According to good Swiss custom, the servants and other employees are a part of this unit. Especially in old farming families and middle-class families, the communal meals follow a customary order or even a ceremonial ritual. This is emphasized by the custom of saying Grace, which in rural areas fell into disfavour only in the second half of the last century. Everyone had his place at the table, which was determined by his position in the household. The common bowl, which forces steady, considerate eating, at which each person has to keep to his own corner, was the symbol of community dinning. When the head of the household put down his spoon, the communal meal was over. The community meal out of one pot has, by the way, experienced a renaissance in our times thanks to the wide-spread popularity of fondue meals.

Characteristic of the general dissolution of the old-fashioned community spirit was the custom of giving everyone his own plate, which originated with the upper classes. Not until the eighteenth century were tablecloth and napkins introduced.

Even today, the custom of a guest or a new member of the house hold having to eat and drink something upon entering the house lives on in rural and middle-class families. In Switzerland, eating becomes pure social custom and acceptance ritual. Refusal of the foo d or drink is considered a refusal of the community group, as an insult.

At weddings, baptisms or funerals, the larger family circle meets at table. The wake originally was not only intended to unit the living, but also to create communion with the deceased.

Larger social groups assemble on special occasions for a banquet, dinner party, donation dinner or sacrificial dinner, where the amount of food consumed usually far exceeds normal needs. Certain feasts were originally held to magically influence the fertility of the crops during the coming year by abundant eating. In this connection, we should not, however forget that the diet of most people right into the nineteenth century was extremely scanty. No wonder that people lost control on the few festive occasions where food and drink were served in abundance.

Fasnacht or Carnival
Basel is considered the place to be for carnival. The city’s celebrations are the best known and the most extravagant. They can begin in the small hours of the morning when all the street lightening is turned off to make way for a procession of large, decorative lanterns. The people are awaked by the masked and costumed figures drumming, playing flutes and marching. The Morgestraich traditionally starts on Monday after Ash Wednesday, at precisely 4am.

Tchaggatta
In contrast to the colourful and playful customes seen during the carnival season elsewhere in Switzerland, one valley – the Lotschental in canton Valais – upholds a tradition involving ferocious-looking wooden masks. An unwritten rule allows only unmarried men to practice the custom. They wander around their village wearing demonic masks, sheep – or goatskin tunics, and gloves smeared with soot, taking the occasional swipe at everyone they meet (particular young woman). The Tchaggatta, as they are called (meaning piebald), are undoubtedly masters of the village during this time. The traditions stems from the time the valley was cut off from the outside world in winter. The masks are and expression of anarchy and rebellion by a peasant society that was largely dominated by the Church.

Sechselauten (Zurich)
This festival, on the third Monday in April, goes back to medieval times, when one of the city’s traditional craft guilds held a nighttime parade complete with musicians and horseback riders. The idea caught on. Other guilds followed suit, and in 1839 the first coordinated Sechselauten parade of all guilds took place. The name Sechselauten, meaning “chiming six o’clock” goes back much further in history. It celebrates the arrival of spring and the lengthening daylight hours that allow people to work until 6pm.
The festivities open on the preceding Sunday with a parade of children, mostly dressed in hystorical customs. This is followed the next day by the parade of the guilds, which culminates at six o’clock with the burning of a giant snowan, or Boog, which is stuffed with explosives. A fire is lit under the snowman and tradition has it that the quicker its head blows off, the better the summer will be.

Harvest Festivals
The end of the summer is marked in many alpine areas by bringing the cows down from their summer pastures in the mountains. In the more populated areas, fairs known as a Chilbis are held every weekend toward the end of September. Fall is the season of harvest, wich means not only giving thanks to God, but also taking produce to market in stocking up for winter. Harvest thanksgiving are held in numerous place throughout the country. Children’s games and market stalls invade village streets where the locals sample the traditional streets of Magen Brot (cookies) and Apfel-Chuchli (deep-fried apples), or gather together under tent of a cheesy dish of raclette, bratwurst, wine and beer or hot specialty cofees.

Chistmas
Celebrations begins on December 6, widely known as Samticlhauls Tags, of the Feast of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children. They leave shoes outside their door on the Eve of St Nicholas for him to fill with mandarin oranges, nuts and cookies. Since it is not Santa who brings presents at Christmas but Christkind (an angel), this day in early December is when children in kindergartens and playgroups find out if they’ve been naughty or good. Don’t expect the jolly, fat Santa of North American tradition, but a slimmed down and more serious version. He arrives accompanied by his sidekick, Schmutzli (or “dirty guy”), who is dressed all in brown, his face darkened with soot. It used to be said Schmutzli would beat naughty children with a switch and carry them off in a sack to be eaten in woods. Beatings and kidnappings are no longer spoken of today; instead Schumutzli hands out oranges and nuts while his superior delivers a stern lecture or two about good behaviour. Presents are traditionally opened on December 24. Families in the German areas enjoy meat fondue called “chinoise” and in Franch areas they indulge in specialties such as foie gras or truffles, followed by special desserts of cakes and cookies. Christmas Day is a time for family to be together, visiting one another or enjoying the outdoors – sleddings, walking or skiing.

New Year
New Year’s Eve (December 31) is also St. Sylvester’s Day, when the last person in the household to rise from bed is woken up with shouts of “Sylvester”. The last child to arrive at school is also dubbed Sylvester. In the evening, bonfires are lit on the mountains and church bells are rung to alert all that the New year is about to be ushered in.

Easter
Easter is a time for specialty chocolate shops and bakeries to show their wares. People enjoy an extra long weekend, and children decorate eggs and take part in Easter-egg hunts. This is probably not different from what the average foreigner is used to, but cultural variations abound if you take a closer look at individual cantons. In Mendrisio, in the southern Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, on the last Thursday of Lent, the locals stage a performance of the biblical passion play, complete with Roman soldiers and horseback trumpeters. This is followed on Good Friday with a more somber procession during which two sculptures, one of the dead Christ and the other of his mother, Mary, are carried through the streets.