Bulls and Jute Shorts: The Story behind Swiss Wrestling

Photo credit: Bababoef.

How ‘bout some wrestling as a bonding exercise? Nothing like a little grappling to bring people together.

Turns out that a Swiss version of the sport hit the country’s mainstream in the early 1800s to unify the country via a national festival. (My research for this article taught me that there are infinite varieties of wrestling. And here I’d thought wrestling was wrestling. But no!)

The History Behind Swiss Wrestling

First, you may be wondering: Why did Switzerland need some unifying in 1805?

Well, after serving as a battleground for French, Russian, and Austrian troops for several years, the country needed some bringing together.

How did Switzerland become a battleground for other countries’ wars?

Geography, in short. A series of military conflicts that followed on the French Revolution had several countries in Europe at war, with Switzerland caught in the middle of several of them. The countries’ respective armies tramped back and forth across the territory, starting with a battle between France and Austria and then expanding into conflicts involving Russian armies. (Yes, Swiss armies did get involved, mainly in support of the latter two countries.)

Years of conflicts resulted in pretty severe instability within what’s now Switzerland. (Understandably enough.) Hence the need for some unifying and some common good feeling.

Enter wrestling.

The Swiss Version of Wrestling

In the Swiss version of wrestling, called “Schwingen,” men wear baggy shorts made of jute over their regular pants. These jute-short-wearing men square up on a circle of sawdust and aim to grab onto the back of their opponent’s waistband to toss him onto the ground via different grips and flips. The first person whose back and shoulders hit the sawdust loses.

To me, this sounded like it’d be a long process. Reports have it, though, that each bout lasts about five minutes.

Or fewer, as in this video example:

Though the resulting wedgies can’t be pleasant, the wrestlers do have a nice tradition of brushing the sawdust off each other’s back at the match’s conclusion—a much more polite ending than the wedgie-inducing schoolyard scuffles I saw in my youth.

The Swiss Federal Wrestling Festival

The main event for Schwingen fans takes place every three years and is called the Federal Wrestling and Alpine Games Festival, or Schwingfest.

Schwingfest typically takes place in the late summer each year—late August, to be more precise.

The winner of the Schwingfest tournament—known as the “Schwingerkönig” or “Schwinger king”—is traditionally given a live bull as his prize. (These days, though, the bull-giving is more ceremonial than actual.)

Past Time to WATCHSome Swiss Wrestling, NO?

While I have seen some yodeling while in Switzerland—even if I still haven’t made it to the Swiss Yodeling Festival—I haven’t yet attended a Swiss wrestling match. Something to rectify.

And trust that when I do, this post will get all the photos and videos I can take. Stay tuned!