Become the tree 1: Pfingstsprützlig

August 30, 2011

Pfingstsprützlig

*Since my Forest Knights novels have a character, Seraina, who is one of the last druid priestesses, I thought it would be fun to describe some modern-day Swiss festivals with Celtic ties. So that’s what I’ll be doing in the next few posts.*

Ah…the Pfingstsprützlig. I have never appreciated the copy and paste function so much.  Well, if this isn’t an example of Celtic or pagan customs that are still practiced in Switzerland, I will say Pfingstsprützlig ten times after eating a box of crackers:

Pfingstsprützlig, Sulz, Aargau

On the afternoon of Whit Sunday – seven weeks after Easter – the young men of the Fricktal villages of Sulz and Gansingen take part in the Pfingstsprützlig, or Whitsun Water Sprite, ceremony. The sprite is dressed in leafy branches, crowned with the flags of Switzerland and Canton Aargau, and goes from trough to trough in the village, splashing water out of them. Since the branches are heavy and completely cover the sprite, in Sulz it is guided by two of its friends, who support it with a double ended paddle. When they reach a trough, the guides bend the sprite over it, and use this paddle to splash the water. Two flag-waving boys march at the head of the procession, while younger children wearing cowbells accompany it.

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