Alps - Alpine People and Culture

Alpine People and Culture

Further information: Transhumance in the Alps and Swiss folklore

The population of the region is 14 million spread across eight countries. On the rim of the mountains, on the plateaus and the plains the economy consists of manufacturing and service jobs whereas in the higher altitudes and in the mountains farming is still an essential to the economy.

Much of the Alpine culture is unchanged since the medieval period when skills that guaranteed survival in the mountain valleys and in the highest villages became mainstays, leading to strong traditions of carpentry, woodcarving, baking and pastry-making, and cheesemaking. Farming and forestry continue to be mainstays of Alpine culture, industries that provide for export to the cities and maintain the mountain ecology.

Farming had been a traditional occupation for centuries, although is becoming less dominant in the 20th century with the advent of tourism. Grazing and pasture land is limited because of the steep and rocky topography of the Alps. In mid-June cows are moved to the highest pastures close to the snowline, where they are watched by herdsmen who stay in the high altitudes often living in stone huts or wooden barns during the summers. Villagers celebrate the day the cows are herded up to the pastures and again when they return in mid-September. The Alpanschluss or Desalpes ("coming down from the alps") is celebrated by decorating the cows with garlands and enormous cowbells while the farmers dress in traditional costumes.

Cheesemaking is an ancient tradition in most Alpine countries. A wheel of cheese from the Emmental in Switzerland can weigh up to 100 pounds, and owners of the cows traditionally receive from the cheesemakers a portion in relation to the proportion of the cow's milk from the summer months in the high alps. Haymaking is an important farming activity in mountain villages which has become somewhat mechanized recent years, although the slopes are so steep that usually scythes are necessary to cut the grass. Hay is normally brought in twice a year, often also on festival days. Alpine festivals vary from country to country and often include the display of local costumes such as dirndl and trachten, the playing of Alpenhorns, wrestling matches, some pagan traditions such as Walpurgis Night, and in many areas Carnival is celebrated before Lent.

In the high villages people live in homes built according to medieval designs that withstand cold winters. The kitchen is separated from the living area (called the stube, the area of the home heated by a stove), and second-floor bedrooms benefit from rising heat. The typical Swiss chalet originated in the Bernese Oberland. Chalets often face south or downhill, are built of solid wood, with a steeply gabled roof to allow accumulated snow to slide off easily. Stairs leading to upper levels are sometimes built on the outside, and balconies are sometimes enclosed.

Food is passed from the kitchen to the stube, where the dining room table is placed. Some meals are communal, such as fondue, where a pot is set in the middle of the table for each person to dip into. Other meals are still served in a traditional manner on carved wooden plates. Furniture has been traditionally elaborately carved and in many Alpine countries carpentry skills are passed from generation to generation. Roofs are constructed from Alpine rocks such as pieces of schist, gneiss or slate.

The Alpine regions are multicultural and linguistically diverse. Dialects are common, and vary from valley to valley, region to region. In the Slavic Alps alone 19 dialects have been identified. Some of the French dialects spoken in the French and Swiss Alps derive from Old Provençal; the German dialects derive from Germanic tribal languages. Romansh, spoken by two percent of the population in southeast Switzerland, is an ancient Rheato-Romanic language derived from Latin, remnants of ancient Celtic languages and perhaps Etruscan.