Ubersitz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ubersitz is a traditional custom of the Bernese Oberland (Oberhasli). On Christmas day, at nightfall, schoolboys begin with Treichlen, walking through the villages in small troops, sounding giant cow-bells. The following nights, the boys are joined, and later replaced, by adult men. The Trychling culminates on 30 December (or the last workday before that date), with the Ubersitz in Meiringen. On this day, the Treichler are carrying frightening masks (except for the people of Unterbach and Hasliberg who remain unmasked) The people of Willigen an Husen are accompanied by a "Huttefroueli" (an effigy of an old woman) and a "Schnabelgeiss" (a tall monster with goat's horns and a beak), while the people of Meiringen have just a "Huttefroueli", and those of Innertkirchen just a "Schnabelgeiss".
