Désalpe I

It's now been October for three days and Autumn has officially begun.  To get into the spirit of the season, I hoisted myself out of bed early Saturday morning to catch the 7:30 train to nearby Nyon.  From there, I boarded the little regional red train up to the Jura village of St-Cergue to participate in the annual Désalpe (the name given to the annual bringing down of the cows from their summer pastures on the mountain slopes).

I boarded the 7:56 train to St-Cergue, together with a slew of other passengers.  By the time that the train reached the village of Arzier - the train's last stop that morning - every seat was taken.  The train didn't go all the way to St-Cergue because the cows would be crossing the tracks at strategic points, so we all descended from the train where three large buses were waiting to ferry us the rest of the way.  St-Cergue was decorated in lively colors to greet the day's visitors.

I made my way to the village center where I was scheduled to meet up with friends.  Partly because the crowds were still gathering and partly because Proud Papa P is tall and had his second daughter, blond moppet Princess E, perched on his shoulders, my friends were easy to find.

The local paper had a nice write-up about this seasonal occurrence, which has actually become a big tourist draw.  HWMBO and I first attended it together in October 1995 when we had barely spent a year here, when it was still fairly cozy and not as well-known.  But I didn't realize until I read the write-up on Thursday that the Désalpe in St-Cergue is a relatively recent tradition.  While it is true that the local farmers have taken their cow herds to their high summer pastures and returned to the plains for the winter for generations, each family used to do it whenever they felt it best for their particular needs and schedules.  It wasn't until 1987 that it was decided to make a local festival of it by consolidating the herds and doing it on a single day, thus importing a similar tradition from the region of Fribourg, closer to central Switzerland.

Now the Désalpe serves as the centerpiece for a harvest festival, with food and crafts booths set up all around the town.  There were singing groups, some performing a cappella with various voices doing traditional yodels in harmony, others where traditional instruments accompanied the singers.  Naturally, there was a group of Alpenhorn players and it is always thrilling to hear the deep mellow tones of the horns.

The various families used to parade their herds literally through the center of town before continuing on their way down the slopes.  Now, however, the herds have a special route and circle through a designated area twice, giving spectators plenty of opportunity to get up close and personal.  The early groups were preceded by sturdy bell-ringers - impressive in that they were not only able to hold those large, heavy bronze bells but to swing them in unison, all the while placing their feet carefully to avoid the cow patties, evidence of the preceding group's passage.

And then came the cows - some decorated with flowers - and all wearing heavy bells, only slightly smaller than those the bell ringers carried.  Swiss cows are exceptionally well-muscled and healthy-looking.

It was just the beginning.