As a journalist, I have travelled extensively and visited many countries with magnificent mountains, myself coming from a country with eminent mountains and age-old traditions. Desalpe means the descent of the cows. Over the past 32 years, this age-old tradition has been transformed into a major popular festival.
This autumn, I took part in it in Saint-Cergue. I had to choose a festival, because it takes place at the same time in every canton of Switzerland.
Thousands of visitors: a sumptuous spectacle
According
to the road map, the journey from Geneva to Saint-Cergue took 35
minutes, but it actually took over an hour. Ten kilometres before the
village, there was a huge traffic jam, as thousands of visitors from
all over wanted to take part. There were so many outside visitors
that the village council had to organise a large car park more than
15 kilometres from Saint-Cergue, with a shuttle bus to the village.
The heat on the last day of September was intense. Some impatient
people didn't want to wait for the shuttle bus and headed towards the
village through the forest. It was all spectacular because of the
sumptuousness of the desalpe.
A little history
Saint-Cergue is a Swiss municipality in the canton of Vaud, surrounded by mountains and forests, with a population of 2,800. In 1798, Saint-Cergue came under the domination of Napoleonic France, before becoming a commune of the new Canton of Vaud in 1803. A gentleman dressed in traditional costume proudly told me that in 1733 Jean-Jacques Rousseau passed through the centre of the village, and since then this square and the main street have been named after him. As in all Swiss villages, serenity and peace reigned in Saint-Cergue. And nature was so beautiful.
An event reminiscent of Soviet parades
During the desalp, the herd of cows passed through the centre of the village three times, accompanied by the shepherds and farmers. These were the moments I'd been waiting for. All the cows were decorated with flowers and their most beautiful bells... The young shepherds, girls and boys, carefully kept the line and distance between the cows. Behind them, the artists played national instruments and sang "Le ranz des vaches".
This image reminds me of the Soviet parades when I was young. All the factory workers, civil servants, peasants, students and schoolchildren would pass through the town square holding flowers in their hands. After the fall of the USSR, everything stopped as if the water had been cut off. Since then, not only the cows, but even the people have stopped holding festive events like we do here. So with this tradition, the Swiss are showing the world how to rear cattle with quality and care. The Swiss also do a lot of advertising for Swiss dairy products and cheese. Desalping events are held all over Switzerland and attract thousands of tourists.
After a day of emotions on the mountain pastures, the idea was born of organising a similar event in my country, Kyrgyzstan, thanks to my association 'Alpalatoo'. The association was set up to create cultural links between Central Asia and Switzerland. It works with bilateral projects between the continents.
