2019-02-01_Lonely_Planet_Traveller

were unmarried men, allowed out only in the
daytime and never on Sundays, but Albert was
part of a movement to change that. In the 1970s,
he and other men set out after dark to protest the
strict rules of the commune. The ban on married
men and women and on night-time prowlings
was overturned (though Sundays remain out of
bounds, in deference to the church). The victory
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festival, with a nightly procession from the last
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be part of it,’ he says wiping sawdust from the
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the tradition really. We still do it because we love
this valley and are proud of it.’

O

n the day of the procession, excitement

in the Lötschental is building. Gangs of

skiers and snowboarders wait as usual

at the gondola in Wiler, ready to be

whisked off up the mountain to runs

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tiny, child Tschäggäs – two-foot-tall

‘My grandpa

carved masks.

If the grandfather

carves, the father

carves, and the

son will also

carve.’

monsters who run growling up to pedestrians

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hideous. Every restaurant and tavern has some

sort of carnival paraphernalia on show, and stalls

selling hot wine and soup set up on the road.



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the commune if they could take over the old

building and turn it into their Tschäggättä ‘cave’,

a place where they could store costumes, discuss

ideas and get dressed. One by one the boys enter

the room, stamp the snow off their boots and sit

for a chat over beer and cigarettes, the Foo

Fighters and German rap on the stereo.

Every part of the cave around them is devoted

to carnival. There are over 50 masks on the

chipboard walls, animal skins and cowbells

hanging from the rafters, jumbles of old mittens,

massive leather belts. ‘All the costumes are

handmade – you touch them and you can feel

the hours of work that went into them,’ says

Manuel. ‘Everyone brings their own unique

Alonedwellingonthe
far side of the valley; the
Lötschentalisoftencut
off due to bad weather
and avalanches