- Cow bell
:"See
cowbell (instrument) for the percussion instrument."A cow bell is a bell worn by freely roaming livestock, so they don't run awry or wander off without being heard. While bells were used on various types of animals, they are typically referred to as "cowbells" due to their extensive use with
cattle . [cite web | title =The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2007 | publisher =Oxford University Press | url =http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-cowbell.html | accessdate = 2007-11-04 ]A "trychel" (Alemannic "Trychle", also spelled "Trichel, Treichel, Treichle") is a large cow bell traditionally in use in
Switzerland . As opposed to regular cast metal bells, "trychlen" are made of hammered sheet metal. This results in a less clean, clanking sound, but at the same time results in a bell that is less heavy and thus easier to carry.In
Southern Germany , the term is "Almglocke".Trychel customs
Trychel processions play an important part in Swiss (
Alemanni c) folklore.*
Oberhasli :Ubersitz
*Küssnacht :Chlausenjagd , a custom related to theWild Hunt withSaint Nicholas replacingWotan .
*Urnäsch : Sylvesterkläuse
*Laupen: Archetringele
*Einsiedeln : Einsiedeln carnival has the characters «Trichler» and «Ustrichler» bearing Trycheln.These customs are stronlgy associated with
Perchta and theWild Hunt taking place during winter, near solstice.History
In the
Early Middle Ages , bells were mostly reserved for religious purposes. In theHigh Middle Ages to the 14th century, they became popular also in secular pageantry such as knightlytournament s. The earliest attestation of bells used for livestock dates to the late 14th to early 15th century (Grimm's "Deutsches Wörterbuch " s.v. "Kuhschelle" points to a 1410 mention in aFrankfurt archive; theOED lists 1440 as the earliest attestation of "bell-wether", the leading sheep of a flock, on whose neck a bell is hung, and attributes the phrase "to bear the bell" in the sense "to take the first place", originally referring to the leading cow or sheep of a drove or flock toChaucer 's "Troilus and Criseyde ", 1374). In the 15th century, a cow bell was worn only by the best and leading piece of livestock, and the wider distribution of the bell worn by livestock is a gradual process of theEarly Modern period . Rabelais in the mid 16th century in his "Gargantua and Pantagruel " makes this explicit, stating that:"such was the custom, to appear on the field wearing jingling garment, as the high priest wears when entering the sacristy; since the tournaments, that is, the contest of nobility, have been abolished, carters have taken the bells and hung them on their hacks" (cited after Grimm, s.v. "Schelle").Swiss folklore reflects a period when a great Trychel was a rare and much-coveted item. Thus, a legend of theSimmental tells how a young cowherd strays inside a mountain, and by a beautiful woman is offered the choice between a treasure of gold coins, a golden Trychel, and the fairy herself chooses the Trychel (Meinrad Lienert, "Schweizer Sagen und Heldengeschichten", Stuttgart 1915. [http://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/schweiz/allgemein/kuhschelle.html] )References
*Robert Schwaller, "Treicheln, Schellen, Glocken" (1996; [http://www.swissisland.ch/schwall/gr.pdf 2005 addendum] ).
ee also
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