The origins of the ‘Klausjagen’ at St. Nicholas day
The exact origins of this vibrant parade with cowbells and horns on St Nicholas Day are unknown. The custom probably took hold in Küssnacht a few hundred years ago and was first documented in 1732. Many locals suspect that it has its roots in pagan customs and the driving out of evil spirits around the winter solstice. What is certain is that some keen Küssnacht residents founded the St Nicholas Society in 1928 with the aim of channeling the celebrations into a more orderly format and thus ensuring that the tradition would be preserved as we know it today.
This year’s event saw the customary hubbub in the main square as groups of ‘Geisselklöpfer’ (whip-crackers) demonstrated their remarkable skills. A deafening bang and the switching off of the street lights mark the beginning of the parade. The cracking of the whips and rhythmic ringing of the ‘Trichlen’ (large cowbells) echo through the village. When the bearers of the lanterns, which can be up to 2.5 m high, take over the street, things take a more tranquil, almost poetic turn. These colourful and intricately detailed ‘Iffelen’ resemble glowing stained-glass windows. After the parade, the party goes on all night long. Anyone who is still standing by dawn joins the ‘Sächsizügli’ (final procession) at 6 am.
Litter-strewn streets at the foot of the Rigi
Hot on the heels of the Sächsizügli, the Küssnacht district road maintenance team was waiting to be deployed. The night had left its mark. Thousands of cups, bottles, shards of glass and rubbish of all kinds littered the route. ‘The Klausjagen always means a lot of work for us the next day,’ says Daniel Wiget of the Küssnacht team. ‘We sweep and clean everything up the morning after. But the fact is that we’re really happy to do it.’ While it is still dark, Wiget and his colleagues set to work cleaning the streets ahead of the commuting traffic.
The Küssnacht team has depended on a Schmidt MFH 250 for this task for several years. This year, it was joined by reinforcements. The municipal team from Aebi Schmidt Switzerland provided the road maintenance team with three additional sweepers for the busy morning ahead. The smallest in the team, the Schmidt Flexigo 150, is a compact, manoeuvrable all-rounder with articulated steering. The Flexigo is powered by a common-rail Perkins diesel engine, which naturally meets the EuroMot V standard.
Schmidt eSwingo 200+: high-performance sweeping technology with an electric drive
Besides the Flexigo 150, the team also used a Schmidt eSwingo 200+ this year. This fully electric, quiet and efficient compact sweeper is used in many cities in Switzerland, Europe and around the world, including recently in New York. With two brushes and a minimum sweeping width of just 1.4 m, the eSwingo travels effortlessly along pavements and narrow alleys. When equipped with a third brush, it offers a maximum sweeping width of 2.6 m – ideal for cleaning large expanses.
Schmidt eCleango 550: large-scale electric sweeping
This was the first time that the Schmidt eCleango 550, the completely overhauled successor to the popular Cleango 500, had been used in Switzerland. This model, which is fully electric, has a 10% larger hopper capacity – making it an impressive 5.5 m3. Meanwhile, the powerful batteries allow it to be operated for up to ten hours without recharging. In Küssnacht, it masterfully covered large areas of ground and picked up plenty of debris. Having completed his task, Daniel Wiget gives the sweeper his seal of approval: ‘Despite its size, it’s very comfortable to use and offers great visibility.’
By lunchtime, all the streets and squares were clean and traffic was flowing through Küssnacht again, as if nothing had happened. The road maintenance team had accomplished its mission and removed all traces of a heavy night in just a few hours. If it weren’t for the last Nicholas hunters stumbling out of the town’s bars or enjoying one last round to toast the new year, there would have been no hint of the excesses of the previous night.
