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Knabenschiessen

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  • ABROAD
Sep 12 2013

The Knabenschiessen is the oldest and largest festival in the city of Zurich, Switzerland, with roots to the 17th Century. Held on the second weekend of September each year, the reason for this three-day Autumn festival is a target shooting competition, open to all 13-17 year olds from the canton of Zurich, who compete for the title of King or Queen shooter, not to mention the CHF 5,000 (c.£3,400) cash prize and other sponsored gifts. Officially held for the first time in 1899, and originally reserved for boys (knaben), the competition has been open to female participants since 1991. Originally […]

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Alphorn (Cor des Alpes) Festival

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Jul 31 2012

The 11th international alphorn festival of Nendaz took place in the canton of Valais in Switzerland on the 20, 21 & 22 July. The Festival is a musicians meeting place, with an official alphorn competition, concerts, yodelling, performances by folk groups, traditional dances and spectacularly, the ‘morceaux d’ensemble’ (with over 150 players). In short, it’s a festival dedicated to tradition and folklore, with spectators and participants coming together from all over France and Switzerland. There were 70 entries into the competition, divided into 6 categories (for the under 16’s, solo musicians, groups & those who had won or previously gained […]

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Combat De Reines

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  • ABROAD
May 14 2012

These are not just cows, these are Hérens cows, and 199 of them battled it out to be crowned the ‘Queen of Cows’ (french: Combat De Reines) to a crowd of about 12,000 to 13,000 on the 5th and 6th May in Aproz, in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. They’re named after the alpine Val d’Hérens region of Switzerland. The black, brown or dark red coloured cattle are very muscular and have short and broad heads sporting strong horns. The breed is unique to the alpine regions. Cow fighting is said to have originated when the villages of the […]

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Silvesterchlausen in Urnäsch

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  • ABROAD
Jan 04 2012

New Years eve is celebrated in a very special and unique way in many villages in the Swiss canton of Appenzell, but only in Urnäsch do they celebrate it again on January 13 (New Year’s Eve, according to the Julian calendar). The tradition of chläuse, a custom over 200 years old has developed from simple begging in disguise, into an expression of creative handwork. The Chläuse wear robes and masks which require a great deal of time and effort to make, each of which falls into one of three very different categories: the Schöne (beautiful), who wear richly decorated headdresses […]

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Lucerne Fasnacht

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  • ABROAD
Mar 10 2011

The Lucerne Carnival takes place over 4 days in the run up to lent. The events start on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, known as Dirty Thursday, and ends the morning of Ash Wednesday. The focus of the carnival are the parades that contain brass bands, (called Güügemusig) which fill the streets with the sound of trumpets and drums, and residents dressed in the most incredible range of costumes I’ve ever seen, with floats to match. These are pictures from Fat Monday (GüMo), when the second parade took place through the city which was awash with colour, music and plenty […]

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Krakelingen Festival

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  • ABROAD
Feb 28 2011

Every year in the Belgium city of Geraardsbergen, about 800 residents parade through the streets in costumes that evokes it’s 25-century-old history. Started by the druids, and ending with more contemporary subjects, the parade combines both Christian and pre-Christian elements. Led by the church dean and city councilors, participants carry bread, wine, fish and fire from the church of Hunnegem to Oudenberg Hill, climbing up to the Holy Mary Chapel on the hilltop, the highest point in the city. Inside, the dean blesses the krakelingen (ring-shaped breads) and recites a prayer. The religious and secular authorities then drink wine from […]

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Reindeer Racing World Cup

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  • ABROAD
Apr 16 2010

The remote town of Kautokeino, north of the Arctic Circle in Norway played host to the last of 7 cup races held throughout the winter season in Sápmi (the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people in N. Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia) on Easter Sunday, during the Sámi Easter festival celebrations. So, the form for the adult races: 4 heats with 4 competitors in each heat. The winner of each heat going through to the ‘A Final’, while the runners-up go through to the ‘B Final’. Comparatively speaking reindeer racing is pretty similar to horse racing, there are […]

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Schwing festival

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Jul 12 2007

Schwingen is a Swiss variant of wrestling, and a Swiss national sport. The fight takes place on the ring, a circular area with a diameter of 12 meters that is covered with sawdust. The two opponents wear short pants made of jute over their clothes. Holding each other at these pants the fighters try to throw each other onto their backs. A fight is won when the winner holds the opponent’s pants with at least one hand and both the opponent’s shoulders touch the ground. By tradition the winner brushes the saw dust off the loser’s back after the fight. […]

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Jodlerfest

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  • ABROAD
Jul 12 2007

Keeping with Swiss tradition, the alphorn, flag throwing and yodeling all being demonstrated at Jodlerfest in a small village outside Lucerne.  

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Räbechilbi Turnip Festival, Richterswil, Switzerland

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  • ABROAD
Nov 13 2006

This small town on Lake Zurich must be ‘the’ place in the world to celebrate the humble turnip or sugar beet. It has nothing to do with eating – the custom of Turnip Fair is said to be based on a legend according to which, in the mid 19th century, the wives of farmers living in the hills above Richterswil used turnip lamps to find their way home from evening church services in the wintertime, and it symbolically marks the transition from autumn to winter. A few days before the Fair, practically the entire population of Richterswil, from schoolchildren to […]

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About this blog

The vast majority of posts in this blog are about quirky & eccentric competitions & festivals. I started it in 2006 in France with a competition I’ll never forget. Where contestants battle it out to become the World Champion Pig Squeeler, or ‘Cri du Cochon’. I had little knowledge back then of quite how far my pursuit of these kind of events would lead me. I’ve travelled all over Britain (and occasionally further afield) to capture our curiosities and quirks. There’s nothing uniquely eccentric about the British, you’ll find people all over the world up to all sorts of weird and wonderful activities, but we do have a remarkable capacity to embrace the madness. ‘A Brit Different’ is the book that was born from it, my labour of love! So what next? There’s always something interesting going on, so watch this space, only time will tell!

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