Early autumn the farming communities in our country hold cow competitions. Some are really big and drawing quite some crowds. This one here is of a smaller community in the Emmental and would hardly get noticed anywhere. We just stumbled into it.

The farmers from one area drive all their cows to a specific location. The cows are presented at their best. A judge and expert will look at each cow starting from the head following the topline, main body and ribs, the udders, the legs and going all the way to the tail. The most beautiful cow wins. The farmer of the winning cow gets a lot of prestige in the village.

After the show the cows get walked back to their farm. The best cows are decorated too. Traffic on these smaller roads has to accommodate to the cattle getting walked home.

Switzerland is a small country with small cities, especially when compared with China. So Chinese friends are amazed when locals greet them as strangers.

We live in a lane with several row houses. The nice thing about this lane is that we all know each other by name and that we function somewhat like a small community.

In summer one lady usually organises a summer party where we set up tables along the lanes, bring food and wines and share the food with each other. We even have three musicians that play as we join in with singing songs.

Our neighbourhood is really great. When we are gone for a while neighbours empty the mail box and water our flowers.

The night we had our party going, the neighbourhood next to ours also had theirs going.

I have to admit that such a friendly neighbourhood is a privilege that can’t be taken for granted. But at the same time it isn’t a just a big exception. In our country there are many other friendly neighbourhoods too.

Christmas often gets associated with Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, the bearer of good gifts.

The season of Christmas is particularly busy for department stores and shops as a big part of the yearly sale happens in the weeks leading up to Christmas. And indeed on Christmas eve and on the Christmas day itself during the the family celebrations gifts get exchanged while great food is eaten.

Father Christmas goes back to the Greek Nicolaus of Myra who was born in the 3rd century. He was originally a very wealthy man. During terribly difficult times he became a fervent Christian who gave all his possessions to the poor. He died on December 6. So in Switzerland traditionally on December 6 Saint Nicolaus turned up and gave gifts to children. But that keeps changing…

Nowadays in the US and many other places Santa Claus pops up with a pack of reindeers and a horse sledge. Also in Switzerland Father Christmas suddenly seems to be around during the whole Christmas season. The commercialised version of Santa Claus keeps pushing the original meaning of Christmas into the background.

So what is the meaning of Christmas? It’s not about commerce but about the greatest gift possible – the birth of Christ.

We like having a look at grave yards in the places we visit. It offers some insight into local spirituality and culture.

Nowadays in Switzerland the topic of death is uncomfortable and many people just push it aside. With modern medicine, hygiene and a high standard of living death gets delayed. In Switzerland by 2015 people’s average death age is 83.2 years. But sooner or later death knocks at everybody’s door.

Once a death has occurred the immediate family is busy organising the funeral. Typical funeral cards are sent out to the family, friends and neighbours of the deceased. These days quite a few people actually prefer a burial in anonymity or just with the immediate family only.

Usually the funeral takes place within a week or up to 2 weeks after the death. In Christian funerals there is normally some music where the congregation sings songs of the resurrection and of the future together with Christ. The pastor will share a comforting message pointing out that if we know Jesus as Saviour, who has forgiven our sins, we are going to enjoy His fellowship forever. Normally after the funeral the whole party goes out for a meal together in order to comfort the grieving family.

Today cremation is quite popular. Christians on the whole probably still prefer to have the body put in a coffin and then lowered into the earth. In the picture here these are row graves where people get buried in their coffin, one after another.

A funeral with a row grave costs about CHF 20’000.-. This includes the funeral service, a coffin, a meal, a grave stone that replaces the wooden cross later on and a gardener tending the grave for the next 20 years. The graves have to be kept well and in order all year round.

There are other more or less expensive options too. People can have a family grave with several people buried at the same spot. Or people can opt for a common grave where the ashes of quite a few people are poured into the same spot.

Many people do not necessarily hold Christian beliefs anymore and so the funeral can be very different from the traditional Christian ways. People may wish that their ashes are poured into a river or strewn on a mountain slope or just buried beneath a tree.

Each village or city has their own graveyard. Traditionally the graveyard used to be just next to the village church and often still is.

In German a grave yard  is called „Friedhof“ or „Garden of peace“. This expresses the Christian faith that people who die in Christ rest in peace.

Christmas and Easter are the most important Christian holidays. While Christmas follows a fixed schedule (December 25) Easter follows a more complicated calculation based on the lunar calendar. But Easter mostly falls into the month of April heralding warmer days ahead.

Easter is preceded by Good Friday, the day that reminds us of the death of Christ 2000 years ago on a cross just outside of the walls of Jerusalem. Even though Christ was executed by the Romans he understood his death as sacrificial. Christ proclaimed that all who would claim his death for themselves could rejoice in the forgiveness of their sins and the restoration of fellowship with God.

Easter is celebrated on the following Sunday. This is the day that Christ rose from the grave. By his resurrection Jesus inaugurated a new age: through his spirit he would be present in his believers, building His kingdom of love, joy and peace until the day of his return when death and sin and tears would be swallowed up by Life for ever.

In Switzerland Easter is celebrated with coloured eggs, easter chocolate bunnies and more recently also with a lamb (a kind of sweet bread).

By mid December in many Swiss homes all is set for celebrating Christmas. Often a genuine fir tree is purchased and then lovingly decorated. Gifts are laid at the foot of the tree.

In quite a few homes you will also find hand made figures, with shepherds, a stable, a manger, the baby Jesus along with his parents Joseph and Mary. This set is made of clay. Often wood or fabric is used too.

During the Christmas celebration quite a few Christians would then read the age old and familiar Christmas story according to the gospel of Luke (Chapter 2) that renders the perspective of the shepherds:

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus to register all the empire for taxes. This was the first registration, taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone went to his own town to be registered. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David. He went to be registered with Mary, who was promised in marriage to him and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds nearby living out in the field, keeping guard over their flock at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were absolutely terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid! Listen carefully, for I proclaim to you good news that brings great joy to all the people: Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a vast, heavenly army appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased!”

When the angels left them and went back to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, that the Lord has made known to us.” So they hurried off and located Mary and Joseph, and found the baby lying in a manger. When they saw him, they related what they had been told about this child, and all who heard it were astonished at what the shepherds said. But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean. So the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; everything was just as they had been told.

The atmosphere in town is just great. Special Christmas decoration is up. Music is weaving through the streets. The scent of roasted chestnut is hanging in the air. Throngs of people are on the road. Excited kids are trailing behind their parents.

For many adults December is a stressful month. They have to get all the presents ready to give to their kids and the wider family when celebrating Christmas. The shops offer special Christmas sales. Advertisements suggest specific gifts for Christmas. The season has become quite commercialised.

December is also the time when the companies invite their employees out for a meal before the end of the year. There are Christmas plays at schools, concerts and church events are lined up too. People on the whole are really busy.

Christmas is actually a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ. Switzerland has become a rather secular nation where for the majority the deeper meaning of Christmas has been lost.

Most people are looking forwards to the week off between Christmas and New Years’ Eve. This is a short but festive holiday. In some way it has a bit the feel of Chinese New Year. Most restaurants and even hotels are closed in that week. Shops are closed or just only open on specific days. It is good to get stocked up and get ready for a time with family and friends and maybe already hit the ski trail.

In Switzerland for a marriage to be legally binding the couple has to go to the registry office where the two officially get married. There is normally a very small ceremony led by the clerk at the registry.

It could be a couple of days or even a few weeks after the legal marriage that the couple then invites family, friends and colleagues for their public wedding.

Often, quite some time before the event, the couple to be wed sends out rather creative invitations for their public wedding. Traditionally, the inner circle is not only invited to the ceremony, but also to the wedding banquet afterwards. These people usually also get a wish list from the couple where on a specified website they can pick a gift that the couple would like to have. These can be an iron, or a voucher at IKEA, or a contribution to their honeymoon etc.

Quite a few people still like their wedding ceremony to take place in a church setting as has been the tradition for centuries. However as the Swiss are increasingly secular some wedding ceremonies are held in rather exotic settings (in free fall or under water) without necessarily Christian elements. The bride and the bridegroom usually are quite free to organize a wedding the way the personally like to.

The wedding I attended took place on the grounds of a vinery. The Christian wedding ceremony included the entry of the the bridegroom followed by the bride led in by her father, songs of worshipping God, a down to earth sermon by the pastor, the bridegroom and the bride exchanging their personally formulated marriage vows and the exchange of their wedding rings, a kiss and then a prayer of blessing by the Christian parents for the newly wed couple. At the end the bride and bridegroom were cheered on as they made their way out (see picture above).

After the ceremony everyone was treated to a rich buffet served in the vinery. There were tables with many different kinds of cheese, meats, backed products, wonderful deserts along with great vine and beer. Later on a band played, there was some dancing along with some funny productions.