Big, small, or no bell at all

We visited Zuoz, a village between tradition and gender issues, where the traditional Chalandamarz took place on March 1st - and for the first time girls were allowed to join in.

The Swiss children’s book “Schellen-Ursli” (A Bell for Ursli) made the spring custom Chalandamarz world-famous. The story takes place in the Engadine village of Guarda, in southeastern Switzerland, but the actual stronghold of the custom has been the village of Zuoz for many years. Here, the Chalandamarz has remained as it was in the past – with a strict division of the sexes.  

For almost a year there was a dispute in the alpine village because girls were also to take part in the procession. The small revolution was initiated by the local council. It wanted to treat the girls at the Chalandamarz completely equally to the boys in order to comply with the principle of equality.

The idea was that the girls should walk through the village with blue blouses, red caps and bells and help to symbolically drive away winter. However, the proposal met with resistance at the community meeting, so it was withdrawn.

Nevertheless, this year for the first time the girls took part in the parade in Zuoz, dressed in the same way as the boys, but without wearing bells – a compromise.

What do the villagers and visitors, and especially the children, think about this? We asked around in Zuoz.