--- title: "Carnival" url: "https://www.brig-simplon.ch/en/all-events/carnival" description: "Carnival is the biggest annual event in Brig-Glis. It continues a centuries-old tradition while offering fun for young and old alike." language: "en" breadcrumb: "Root > Brig-Simplon > Special > Header > Navigation > Events > Carnival" --- Carnival ======== Carnival in the ‘Mecca of the Upper Valais’ **Carnival is the largest annual event in Brig-Glis. It continues centuries of tradition and also offers entertainment for people of all ages.** Carnival (locally known as ‘Fastnacht’) is one of the oldest documented traditions that still lives on – even if much has changed since its beginnings. It is closely connected with the Church’s commandments of abstinence. Even at the height of the Middle Ages, people were supposed to fast (like Jesus had to resist temptations while alone in the desert). Meat, fatty animal products and alcohol were to be avoided after Ash Wednesday until shortly before Easter. All reserves were, of course, used up in the days before. There was plenty of eating, especially from ‘Fat Thursday’ onwards. - - - - - 11 November – Why does carnival start in November? -------------------------------------------------- The ‘fifth season’, as it is known, is ushered in at 11:11 am on 11 November, another date that is related to a phase of fasting: Advent. In the past, Advent lasted for six weeks instead of four – six weeks is still the case in Milan, which is not far away – so 11/11 was indeed one last opportunity to live it up before 42 days of peaceful reflection in the lead up to Christmas Eve. But the church also called for reflection and looking ahead from Christmas to Epiphany, ‘between the years’ as it is commonly called, which is why 6 January used to mark the beginning of carnival in many places. The heart of the Upper Valais carnival -------------------------------------- Visp may have since received a direct rail connection coming from Bern. But going by reputation, size and diversity, the heart of the Upper Valais carnival clearly beats in the Brig-Glis-Naters agglomeration. After the , carnival societies were also formed in (1966) and (1969) to organise the carnival locally. At about the same time, Guggenmusik also appeared – Brig alone still has four active Guggenmusik marching bands: , , and . In the two weeks before Ash Wednesday, they ensure that traditional elements of carnival (such as the huge parades, the carnival newspaper, Schnitzelbank songs and carnival specialities) continue to be cultivated and that there is ample opportunity to celebrate alongside them. - - - How it all began... ------------------- - Türkenbund association: How Brig became a ‘Mecca’ It was also on 6 January that the oldest Upper Valais carnival society, the ‘’ association, was founded in Brig in 1903. The hotelier Dr Alexander Seiler (1864–1920) from Brig liked to dress up for the carnival in Simplon from a young age, choosing to walk the streets dressed as a Bedouin or in other Middle Eastern clothing. Such ‘foreign’ looks can certainly be interpreted as deliberate provocation. Seiler and his followers saw themselves as a ‘progressive democratic group’ that wanted to shake up the supremacy of the ‘old conservatives’. The conservative Visper newspaper ‘Walliser Bote’ ultimately also threw down the gauntlet, which was picked up with humour. On the question of which route should be used to connect Bern with the Valais, they favoured the Wildstrubel option in Visp, while the people of Brig were naturally in favour of the Lötschberg project in the dispute so that Brig could become the junction of the Jura-Simplon railway. The ‘Bote’ newspaper mockingly commented that ‘The so-called city of Brig certainly doesn’t hold the reins yet and it will never become a Mecca for us Upper Valaisans.’ Dr Alexander Seiler was happy to challenge this and called for a ‘pilgrimage to Mecca’ during the carnival of 1903 in the ‘Briger Anzeiger’ newspaper. After many ‘Bedouins, dervishes, \[...\] Turks \[and\] hajis of all kinds’ had showed up, the carnival society named itself the the following year – at a time, it should be noted, when the Republic of Türkiye did not yet exist and the Ottoman Empire was still in control. - The foundation of the praiseworthy Bäjizunft Glis-Gamsen-Brigerbad society In 1959, a local carnival was organised for the first time by two people from Glis, paving the way for a local carnival society – the . In 1966, the time had come for the initiators to officially launch the . Soon after, its members appeared with their red pointed hats and identified themselves as Bäjini. The Bäjizunft society consists of 13 cliques and seven board members. Under the reform-minded direction of the society head who took office in 1979, the Bäjizunft started accepting women for the first time. As early as 1973, the international collaboration between the , the and the had become so established that the organisation of the major Upper Valais carnival parade was handed over to one of the three carnival societies of BriGliNa in turn. In 1975, the Bäjizunft society bought a storage hall, which was set up in Holowistutz as the ‘Bäjihitta’. In 1977, the Bäjizunft society visited the curative education school for the first time and established the tradition of an annual visit. When the Bäjizunft was originally founded, the main aim was to revitalise the village carnival. Today, the society would like to increasingly offer young people the opportunity to play a meaningful role in shaping carnival events. You have to be at least 16 years old to join a clique. Presented as a ‘green bäji’ at the Chessletta, new members have until the AGM in autumn to prove their good will and suitability for the clique and the society. Their entry into the society is then put to the vote at the AGM. Gätsch: umpteen bars in the old town ------------------------------------ Everyone who hails from the Upper Valais gets to know the ‘Gätsch’ from adolescence onwards. The origin of the word ‘Gätsch’ has either been attributed to an original name for the old town district where the Brig carnival takes place, or to an outdated, slightly offensive word. At the association, they call it the ‘Kasbah festival’, since the old town below (Kasbah in Arabic = old town or castle) is transformed into a party zone. Thousands of carnival-goers enjoy themselves in umpteen pop-up bars for three free nights starting on Fat Thursday. Brig is and remains the carnival Mecca of the Upper Valais. Events ------