Guggisberg sits deep in the mountains about 3500 feet above sea level. It is beautiful, but a treacherous beauty because the hills are steep which makes navigation dangerous. Farming is almost impossible. It is also isolated. To live here is work to survive. It is made up of about 20 houses. If you average maybe 4 people per house, there may be about 80 people in the village, and honestly, I think that's pushing it. When we arrived, there were literally hundreds of cars and no parking. I suggested there may have been a cow convention, after all we are in Switzerland! But no, we found out it was a funeral and as all the people were from Fribourg or elsewhere in the area, they left not long after our arrival. So, in the meantime we checked into the only hotel in Guggisberg, the Hotel Sternen, and relaxed, enjoying the view of the snow capped mountains. After the cars emptied out, we took a stroll around the village and went to the church. Now, at this point it might be good to say why in the world we came to such a small village high up in the mountains. I have family from there of course! The Binckele or Binggeli family lived here up until about 1715 when they moved to the Alsace. Remember Peter Binckele? The guy who got struck by lightening and had 20 something children? Well he was from Guggisberg. The Alsatian marriage record of he and his wife confirmed that yes, he had come from Guggisberg in canton Bern. According to Peter's own story, his father died when he was 9 years old and since he had a brother already in the Alsace, his mother decided to move the family there. I was able to find records online that go back hundreds of years, so I will be spending some time scrolling though them later. Right now I know for sure that Peter was born in 1704 and that his parents were Christian Binggeli and Elizabeth Burri. Christian died in 1713 and I have sources that say his father, also named Peter, died the same year. The church notes that throughout the village's history there were various illnesses. Once the snow came in late fall, it stayed till the spring, which meant you also stayed inside. Any epidemiologist will tell you how easy it is for illness to spread in close proximity. However, one must also consider the environment and how treacherous it is. There could have been an accident. Hopefully the records will reveal more.
So, the church....the village of Guggisberg was first mentioned in 1074 and the church in 1148. The Gothic work of the current church dates back to 1476 and the organ to 1784. As with all the other churches we have seen, this church is the "original" in that it has been modified, updated and renovated over the years.
In the church cemetery, we found clues to our ancestors. There were Binggelis, Burris, Zbindons and Rorbachs. We also encountered a woman who said something to us in Swiss German, a greeting of some sort. We didn't understand so just smiled. Then she said something else that did not sound at all like German. It was Swiss German combined with the local dialect, which sounds absolutely nothing like high German. Yikes! We said in German that we were Americans and she said in English, "Ah, ok, I wondered why you ignored my greeting." Oops! We now know that in this part of Switzerland, the greeting is similar to the Austrian greeting of, "Gruss Gott." Although, instead of dragging it out, they shorten it to "Grusste." The next time someone greeted us, we responded the right way!
After some touring we went back to the hotel for dinner. We ate plums wrapped in bacon, cordon bleu over stuffed with delicious Emmentaler cheese (we were in the Emmental region after all!), and bread served with herbed lard and no, I don't mean butter, I mean lard as in animal fat. Since we expressed pleasure in this bread and herbed lard, they brought us more. I imagine my arteries aren't looking too good right now but my taste buds are quite satisfied.
The next morning we awoke to church bells, cow bells and the sound of someone chopping wood. That was it. No cars, no people talking, just quiet. For breakfast we had coffee (I need to start cutting back!), several types of bread, jams like raspberry-rhubarb, ham, salami and other meats, and cheese. Now let me tell you about the cheese. There were at least eight different types of cheese from hard to soft, sharp to sweet, and there was even one with a bit of a kick. I was in cheese heaven! As we ate I listened to the staff talk to each other. Being an anthropologist, I couldn't help but be curious. Their dialect had an almost singsong quality to it. This brings me to the last thing I want to say about Guggisberg. Even though it is tiny and has less than 100 inhabitants, it is famous for one thing: its Guggisberg song, called the Guggisberg leid. This beautiful and haunting chant is the oldest song in Switzerland, dating to the early 1700s. It is an ill-fated love story about Vreneli and her lover. There is a statue of Vreneli in the center of the village. Here, take a listen and while you do, close your eyes and imagine a village high up in the mountains, quiet and peaceful.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8aBmxZVoDL0
Cheers!
Elizabeth
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