New Year's Eve Weekend in Appenzell (Innerrhoden and Ausserrhoden)

Saturday and Sunday, December 31, 2022 / January 1, 2023 -- The people of our town love their fireworks, and New Year's Eve is just one of several occasions they are happy to make noise for hours, right next to the apartment. It's a thorn in many people's sides, but an issue not yet regulated by the government.

So we try to escape to a more secluded area, which is convenient for us because Urs' brother has a small house in the remote countryside in Canton Appenzell. We have also been having unseasonably warm weather and sunshine on this weekend, so it was nice to spend it in this lovely eastern part of Switzerland.

After my surgery, I still can only walk about 90 minutes, so we organized two short hikes for the weekend. On December 31st we started in Waldstadt and walked to Herisau, which is one of several communities in Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden where New Year's Eve is celebrated twice: Dec.31st according to the new Gregorian Calendar, and Jan.13th according to the old Julian Calendar. There is a fabulous tradition here called "Silvester Chläuse", locals dressed in elaborate hand-made costumes make the rounds of the villages singing and dancing for their neighbours (They start at 5 a.m.!). This is the second time we have experienced this tradition up close, and I would go again; the costumes are fabulous. We chose to experience this in Herisau because there was an additional display of headdresses no longer in use. 

(Before heading from there to Appenzell for the night, we made a stop in Urnäsch, the most well-known of the villages which celebrate the Silvester Chläuse. Photos to follow, but here are the photos from the previous time we experienced this:  HERE).

On Sunday we did a simple 90-minute walk around the Appenzell area including another look at the lovely painted buildings in that city. The temperature was about 17 degrees C and almost too warm in our jeans! Those photos are HERE.

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Saturday December 31, 2022: Waldstatt to Herisau  (8-9 km)

We started our walk on Saturday in the village of Waldstatt at 10:15 in the morning. We chose this as the starting point because we had previously ended a hike here, so we could continue from here northwards. 

From the village of Waldstatt, we first had to walk uphill, 100m altitude difference. In the background we had a nice view of Mt. Säntis

The uphill section should have taken 20 minutes, but it took us longer and we had to take several bench breaks!

The countryside is full of interesting farm houses

This kitty is enjoying the sunshine (as are we) and barely bothered opening its eyes as I observed it. 

We started in Waldstatt, walked up to meet the St.James Trail (no.4) and walked north to Herisau. Together with walking around the old town there, this ended up being almost 8 km of walking!

Each farm has its own name. This one is called Geisshalden

The cows appreciate being out of the barns as well

It was so hot in our jeans, that I was actually happy to find a bench in the shade!

Directly to the west is the village of Schwellbrunn, which we have seen from afar on a previous hike, but not yet discovered close up. 

About an hour after starting out from the train station at Waldstatt we joined the St.James trail (normal walking time would be 40 minutes, but we took many breaks). From here it's another hour to Herisau

After having gone the wrong way and then following a forest trail, we start our descent to Herisau. To the north you can see all the way to Lake Constance (Bodensee) and Germany. 

Across and past the highway is the town of Herisau. We had to descend, and then climb a lot of steps back to the old part of town. 

As Herisau is the capital city of Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, the square in front of the church became the meeting place for many important people, and there were several restaurants built around the square. 

First we did a little tour of the old part of Herisau Town

Several very nice details on the buildings here. 

Lots of people here in Herisau, looking to catch a glimpse of the Silvester Chläuse as they return from the farms around the town. They come into town for something to eat or drink, having started their tours at 5 a.m!

From the church terrace we saw our first group of "Beautiful" Chläuse heading down the alley below us. 

It's hard to see, but the main figure in each group of six (two large headdresses, four smaller ones, first and last dressed like women) has a flower at the corner of the mask's mouth

The theme of this group seems to have been "Community building houses together"

VIDEO:

Group of six whose theme is House Building

The Protestant church at the main square in Herisau

The interior of the Protestant church was fairly simple, modern and sleek

We headed over to the old Armoury where I had been told was a display of very fancy headdresses which are no longer (or not) used in the actual festivities. Some of these were absolutely stunning. Apparently it takes over two years to create such a headdress, and it is mostly the local men who work on these as a hobby over the winter (reminiscent of women who used to get together to make quilts). They can only work on the headdresses in winter as they have too much farm work in summer. 

This wilderness theme displayed ibex in the mountains!

Life on the farm

A farming theme

Hard to imagine this is worn as a headdress and paraded for hours through the countryside

So much incredible bead work in this piece of art. This is the main headdress of the group, recognized by the flower in the corner of the mask's mouth

A particularly nice display of a group of six with the theme "Fairy Tales" (We recognized "Rapunzel", "Hansel and Gretel", "Red Riding Hood", "The Musicians of Bremen", "The Wolf and Seven Little Goats", and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves".

There are three different groups of costumes. Each group has six members. One group is called "Die Schönen", which means "The Beautiful Ones", and these have two members with large headdresses and 6-7 bells in front and back, and four with small headdresses and two large cowbells. The other two groups are called "Schön/Wüste" which are six members with a forest theme (the costumes are refurbished with fresh fir branches each year), and the "Wüste" ("Uglies") which are monsters made of all kinds of natural materials such as wool, wood, horn, straw etc. 

Here is an example of a costume in the group called the "Uglies", made with horns and wool. 

A group of "Schön/Wüsten" heading to the nearest pub for a drink

A group of "Schön/Wüsten" heading to the nearest pub for a drink

VIDEO:

The "Schön/Wüsten" heading up to the nearest pub for a drink!

We returned to the town square and were able to see another group of six coming up the road. Their theme was steam engines!

At 3 p.m. we made our way toward Appenzell with a stopover in the village of Urnäsch, where we were able to observe more interesting costumes as well as the traditional dancing and singing as the groups moved from house to house in the village. The town is smaller and the experience more intimate. Photos to follow.

This Google Satellite Map shows the several hikes we have done in this area (called the Toggenburg). In orange is the short hike we did this day from Waldstatt to Herisau. On the way to Appenzell, we stopped in Urnäsch to admire more Silvester Chläuse.

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