Schwingfest 2010

Last weekend Frauenfeld, a nearby city, was hosting a HUGE (and I mean huge) sports festival called Schwingfest. It only happens every 5 years in Switzerland so swarms of people were in Frauenfeld to watch. At Schwingfest the Swiss compete in traditional Swiss sports, sports that in the US, I have never seen or heard of before. The main event is a type of wrestling done in wood shavings. Two big guys wear jeans, a button down shirt, and baggy shorts made out of a burlap sack. The object of the match is to grab the guy by the shorts and throw him on the ground. Sounds crazy, yeah?

Here you can kind of see two Schwingers on the big screen.

The festival had stadium with 7 rings in the middle for the Schwingers to fight it out and prove who is best. It had been sold out for years so I couldn't actually go in. Christina, Nadja, and I watched on the big screens outside the stadium in the festival area. The festival area reminded me of our county fairs at home. Tons of food, tents showing off farm products, and people coming from all over to see. The only thing missing was the funnel cake and rides.

People who go to watch get really involved and dress up in Swiss attire. We heard this chorus yodel, which was cool and kinda of goofy at the same time!

We were sitting and eating at a picnic table and the people next to us heard us speaking English. They said that there was one American Schwinger in the competition this year (rare, because, like I said these are traditional Swiss sports) and he was from California. I guess his great grand parents were Swiss or something. We didn't get to see him wrestle, but small world, that there was another Californian in the area.

Besides the main Schwing event, there are other Swiss sports being played too. One with long paddles and sticks that is vaguely similar to baseball, and another where big men lift 61 kilo rocks above their head run about 30 feet down a lane and then throw it into a sand pit. It hurt my back just watching.

Seeing the Schwingfest was a good cultural experience. It was interesting to see everyone dressed up and cheering for the Schwingers. I liked seeing the festival and I think it would have been even cooler to have tickets to see the main sporting event.

Oh and, guess what the Schwingers win if they win the entire competition? A COW. I kid you not. The main prize was a cow named Arnold who wore a very nice head piece and is considered a celebrity. Apparently he is worth about $12,000, so it is a good prize, but I don't know, winning something that only eats and poops doesn't seem too exciting to me. And how would you get him home? He has a trailer, but is that included in the prize?! Oh man... so many questions!

A pic of Arnold on his personal trailer.