Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Switzerland. Show all posts

January 2 - Berchtold's Day in Switzerland

   Posted on January 2, 2022


This is an update of my post published on January 2, 2011:



Bern, Switzerland


This day commemorates Duke Berchtold V, who founded Bern, the capital city of Switzerland, in the twelfth century. (Do you remember how centuries are named? If it is the twelfth century, it's the 1100s. In this case, 1191.)


Why does this statue of Duke Berchtold V include
a bear? Read on...


According to legend, Berchtold promised to name the new city after the first animal he killed in a hunt. He promptly hunted and killed a bear, which is called bern in German. To celebrate the founding and naming of the city, as well as Berchtold's hunting feat, the holiday is a family-oriented day that (for some unknown reason) centers around nuts. 

At Berchtold Day gatherings, people eat nuts - I keep running into the term "nut feasts" - and play nut games. 

One of the nut games is making “hocks,” which is four nuts placed close together, with a fifth perched on top. Apparently this is difficult to do (although I imagine it depends on the type of nuts!).

Berchtold's Day is also a good excuse for a parade - at least when we aren't dealing with a global pandemic!





Going Nuts for Nuts


What is a nut? It is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants. Biologists only call some of what we call “nuts” true nuts; a true nut, in biology, is a composite of the seed and the fruit so that the fruit does not open up and release the seed. (In other words, the seed is not free of the fruit.) True nuts include hazelnuts, chestnuts, hickories, and acorns (which have to be treated extensively to be edible!).

Hickory nuts, with a quarter for scale

Hazelnuts are quite small

Chestnuts are quite large


The most commonly eaten nuts are not (biologically speaking) true nuts. Here are some nuts in that category (in other words, nuts that are not true nuts):

TREE NUTS:


walnuts
pecans
almonds
Brazil nuts
cashews
pistachios
macadamias
pine nuts

LEGUME:
peanuts


(A legume is a family of plants that includes peas and beans.)

Edible nuts - including nuts that are not TRUE nuts - are delicious and nutritious—packed full of protein, dietary fiber, unsaturated (heart-healthy) oils, vitamins, and minerals! Unfortunately, some people have nut allergies. (Most people with nut allergies are either allergic to peanuts or to one or several families of tree nuts—but some people are allergic to both. Yikes!)

Celebrate!

  • Here are some healthy nut recipes, and here are some nut recipes of the sweet-tooth variety.

    Pine nuts are SO yummy on salads!

    Almond-based desserts are some of my very favorite
    foods in the entire universe!!!


  • Here is a nut-race game. Another nut race is trying to puck up nuts using only a straw. Each player has his or her own straw and cup. When the race starts, the players suck on the straw in order to lift nuts and move them into their own cup.


  • Don't forget to try your hand at building hocks!

Plan ahead:


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November 18 - William Tell Shoots an Apple Off His Son's Head – Or Does He?

  Posted on November 18, 2021


This is an update of my post published on November 18, 2010:





William Tell is a folk hero of Switzerland. He is said to have broken an unreasonable rule of the Austrian man, Albrecht Gessler, who ruled his region with brutality. Gessler's punishment for Tell, we are told, was that Tell had to shoot an apple off the head of his son, Walter. If Tell didn't try the task, Gessler assured him, both he and his son would be executed. On the other hand, if William Tell succeeded, they would both freed.

So, on November 18, 1307, William Tell raised his crossbow and took two crossbow bolts from his quiver. He shot one of the bolts toward his son—and neatly split the apple in half. At this point, Tell and his son should have been freed.


However, Gessler was curious about why Tell had taken two bolts from his quiver. He asked, and Tell told him that, if he had failed at the marksman task and killed his son, he would have used the second bolt to kill Gessler.

Angry, Gessler broke his promise and had William Tell tied up and carried to a boat on Lake Lucerne. He intended to have Tell taken across the lake and locked up in his castle. However, a storm broke out, and, in the confusion, Tell managed to escape. He went by land to the castle and laid in wait for Gessler. When the latter arrived, Tell shot and killed him.


William Tell's accuracy as a marksman and bravery in escaping and assassinating a ruthless tyrant led, according to legend, to a rebellion and the eventual formation of the Swiss Confederation.

Legend or History?

Many people tell this story as a true historic event. Specific names are mentioned, and there is a very specific date tied to the main event as well. The story is widely repeated and has inspired at least one play as well as paintings and murals. It sounds legit, right?

However, there is apparently no good evidence that William Tell, his son Walter, or Albrecht Gessler ever lived. Perhaps most convincing that the story is a myth rather than a history is the fact that there is a very similar—but earlier—Danish legend. Only the names have been changed: a Danish man named Palnatoki was forced by King Harald Bluetooth to shoot an apple off his son's head. Palnatoki took several arrows from his quiver and, when asked why, he explained that if he had struck his son with the first arrow, he would have turned his bow on the king.

So...the story of William Tell is probably a fiction.



The “William Tell Overture”

A composer named Gioachino Rossini wrote an opera inspired by the legend of William Tell, and the instrumental beginning of this opera is pretty famous. It has been used, over used, and sometimes even abused in popular media—including becoming the theme song of the 50s TV show The Lone Ranger.

Have you ever heard this stirring composition?



Modern Heroes in Switzerland

One of the hugest science experiments of all times is happening right now in Switzerland, and the scientists (of many different nationalities) who work there are truly modern heroes. One American scientist, Katherine McAlpine, created a rap video about the Large Hadron Collider at CERN—and even though it is scientifically accurate, the video went viral!


(A viral video is one that is widely shared and spread “by word of mouth” on the internet. The “Large Hadron Rap” has been viewed more than eight MILLION times.)

By the way, in the video, McAlpine refers to CERN looking for the Higgs boson - and scientists did discover it, just as they had hoped to.






(Thursday of American Education Week)




(Thursday before Thanksgiving)





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September 22 - Anniversary of the Peace of Basel in Switzerland

 Posted on September 22, 2021


This is an update of my post published on September 22, 2010:




In keeping with yesterday's Peace Day, today we honor a peace treaty. 

WAY back in 1499, after months of fighting between the House of Habsburg and the Old Swiss Confederacy, the Swiss emerged triumphant, and Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor, had to sign a treaty that made Switzerland quite independent of the Roman Empire.

(It remained nominally a part of the empire until the mid-1600s, but after the Peace of Basel, Swiss were exempt from jurisdiction and taxes. In other words, for all practical purposes, Switzerland was independent.)

Switzerland is a small landlocked country in Europe. It is known for its natural beauties, especially the beautiful mountains - the Alps! It's also known for banking and fine watches, an amazing tennis player named Roger Federer, chocolate and cheese, and peace and neutrality.



Swiss speak

Nestled between Germany, Italy, and France, Switzerland has people with German as their native language, people whose mother tongue is Italian, and people whose first language is French. But it's not enough for Switzerland to have three official languages—it has four, since there are 30 or 40 thousand people who speak Romansh as their mother tongue!


Swiss money

The only time I've been to Switzerland, in 1999, I had a mix of monies from the various countries I had visited on that trip: German Deutsche marks, Italian lira, and Austrian schillings. I still had a few U. S. dollars in my wallet, too, but of course no Swiss francs. I sighed as I realized that I would have to go to a bank to convert all these sorts of money to Swiss francs—it's a bit of trouble to do so, but more importantly, you lose money in transaction fees every time you convert it.

Naturally, it was a Sunday, so the banks were closed.

I wanted an ice cream cone, and I wasn't sure I could pay for it. We had paid for our hotel room with a credit card, but back then, people didn't accept credit cards for small amounts.

At least, most people in the world didn't, but I soon found that the Swiss were different. Shop owners and even street vendors took EVERYTHING – money from other countries, credit cards (even for one-dollar purchases), debit cards, traveler's checks – everything! I was so happy as I traded my now-useless lira and schillings for a double scoop of ice cream.











Of course, nowadays most European nations use the same currency, the euro. But not the Swiss - they still use the Swiss franc. However, I am positive that almost everyone accepts euros as well!


Swiss neutrality

In keeping with its unprecedented independence within the Holy Roman Empire, Switzerland has maintained a neutral stance in world affairs since 1815. This country has diplomatic relations with almost all countries, and it was able to stay above the fray even during the two World Wars. (Hitler drew up plans to attack Switzerland but never did.)

Partly because of the strong stance of neutrality, many international organizations are located in Switzerland. These include the international Olympics headquarters, the World Health Organization, the Red Cross and Red Crescent, and many others.

Celebrate Switzerland!

  • Listen to the legend of Wilhelm (William) Tell. (Remember that a legend isn't necessarily true, although it might be based on truth.)


  • Read the fiction book Heidi, by Johanna Spyri (available free online). Or watch one of the movie versions of the story.


  • Eat some Nestle's chocolate. (Henri Nestle was Swiss, and his company made the first milk-chocolate.) 
  • Here is a puzzle of the Swiss flag (which has been adopted as the sign of the Red Cross) against the background of a blue sky. 





Also on this date:










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