Complaints spark wave of support for cowbells in Bern village

Jarring, melodic, or simply historic: cowbells are a source of division in some Swiss villages. Keystone / Arno Balzarini

Residents who recently moved to the village of Aarwangen in canton Bern want to ban the clanging of cowbells. Their demands have fallen on deaf ears in the town.

Squabbles about the noise of cowbells flare up again and again in Switzerland; in the past, the issue has even made it as far as the country’s highest court.

In the last few months, the most recent case has been in the village of Aarwangen, where local residents have launched a campaign in favour of the clanging.

After two newly arrived couples in the area filed complaints against the noise to local authorities, a veritable pro-cowbell movement has sprung up.

Pro-clang

In reaction to the complaints, a group of locals launched an initiative aiming to not only preserve the sound of cowbells but also that of churchbells.

As for the two newly arrived couples, one has since withdrawn the complaint, while the other has announced plans to move away, municipality president Niklaus Lundsgaard-Hansen told Swiss public broadcaster SRF.

Aarwangen in canton Bern has grown considerably in recent years. Keystone

The case in Aarwangen is one of colliding visions: the municipality of almost 5,000 residents has been strongly affected by new residential areas built in recent years.

“For me, the conflict is an example of the urban-rural divide,” says Lundsgaard-Hansen. Many people have moved to the area, “most of them not necessarily from cities, but from urban outskirts, and are less familiar with the agricultural way of life”, said Lundsgaard-Hansen, who himself moved to Aarwangen just four years ago.

Council vote

Aarwangen now has to officially rule on how the sound of the bells and the need for peace can co-exist under noise pollution regulations. In December, the initiative by citizens will come before the local council. By then, cantonal authorities in Bern hope to have reached some concluding guidelines, SRF writes.

Meanwhile the cowbell debates have even made it into an exhibition, with the museum in Langenthal organising a special show on the topic.

Jana Fehrensen, director of the local museum in Langenthal, canton Bern. SRF

There, the controversial bells hang for all to see on a wooden frame. “Debates like in Aarwangen are not about noise, volume or decibel levels – they’re about tolerance,” says museum director Jana Fehrensen.

Before the courts

Should cows be allowed to wear bells on the meadows at night? Across Switzerland, more and more complaints are being lodged on this. But because there is no common ruling on the sound of bells, each case has to be handled separately.

Here are some of the most prominent:

• In 2021, a court in Aargau ruled that it was wrong to exclude cowbells from night-time noise regulations. A farmer in Aargau thus has to take the bells off his cows after 10pm.
• In 2019, the municipal assembly of Bauma (canton Zurich) decided that cowbells do not constitute noise. This means that residents can no longer file complaints.
• In 2018, the Federal Court ruled in favour of a farmer, saying that the ringing of bells at the location in question had been part of the local way of life for decades and was in line with local traditions.
• In 1975, the Federal Court ruled that the ringing of cowbells in a residential area went beyond what could be tolerated, and forbade a farmer to put bells on his cattle when they went out to pasture at night.