Tschäggättä

The Valley of Lötschental Switzerland remained isolated for thousands of years, with tall mountains surrounding it, and no real roads in or out until 1907. This allowed their traditional festival Tschäggättä to survive into the modern day.





It's difficult to know the exact origins of this festival, however, it's possible that it was a way of scaring evil spirits from a village, an or honoring dark spirits as well in order to convince them to leave the village alone. Both these ideas were fairly common in ancient Europe, though again it's difficult to know the exact function of the masks in Tschäggättä.