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A couple of months ago I posted about Hiking with the Cows. The time in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and South Tyrol when the cattle leaves the farms to spend the summer high up in the alpine pastures, and now, with the beginning of fall, it’s time to get them back home.
“Hoamfahrt” (Home Drive) we call it in the Austrian dialect, in proper German, it’s the Almabtrieb. The cattle drive in South Tyrol is a very old but still popular tradition. Over the years, it has become a major tourist attraction, it draws guests from all over the world to the culturally rich valley.
When the days get colder again at the end of summer, and the grass stops growing, then it’s time for the cows to leave the alpine fields behind. It’s an exciting event for the herders and farmers, as well as for the animals.
For centuries, the villages have celebrated the healthy return of the cows from the mountain pastures in a very special way.
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The cattle drive in the fall is every year celebrated with a big festival in the towns and villages. A welcome home for the cattle and herders who spent the last four months up in the mountains. Dressed in magnificent, colorful headdresses and accompanied by the shepherds, the cows are brought back into the valley.
The order of the animals and the shape of the headdress are usually precisely regulated by tradition. First and foremost marches the wreathed cow, which wears the most magnificent headdress, often a crown. She is the oldest, followed by the cows and yearlings, and finally the calves.
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The headdresses are impressive and making them takes time because they are made by the farmer and his family, so each farm has its own style.
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The same cow wears the same headdress and the same bell every year. They are all hand-made, traditionally, silk flowers, silver thistles, alpine roses, or mountain pine are used for the décor. The wreath cow that leads the herd on its way to the stables wears an unusually large headdress. This decoration is conventionally quite elaborate and beautifully braided in the shape of a cross. This is a request for the protection of heaven. The mirrors and highly polished bells worn by the cows during the drive are intended to drive away evil spirits and sound quite impressive with the multitude of cows moving down the streets.
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The cows are very cocky after a long time in freedom. It takes professional and experienced farmers to bring the cows slowly and safely to the village. After about 5 to 8 hours, the herd arrives in its hometown. They walk many miles.
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It’s a big spectacle. In the villages, the animals are greeted loudly with applause and music, and you can see that the animals enjoy the attention. It almost seems as if they are a little proud when they move back into their winter quarters.
Live bands are playing, people are dancing and usually, there is also a farmer’s market where you can buy and try fine natural products, delicacies, and produce from the area.
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Sharing more about Austria and Tyrol and the way I grew up has brought me great joy.
When I searched for a movie that would show some of the Almabtrieb/Cattle Drive I found a treasure. It’s even in English and it explains it all so well.
This was a very interesting post and I loved the video. So much information about a long standing tradition. It was nice to see the families pull together (the young boys helping in the barn getting close to “nature”) and the whole town plus more come out to see them return. And the crowns were beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing this little bit of another country! ❤️
I am glad you enjoyed the post and I enjoyed the video as well. It’s part of my upbringing, I had fun writing about it.
Oh, those beautiful mountains! 😎🌻
Wunderschö de Pricht öber D‘Alpabfahrt🐂 ond könnt au im Appezellerland se! Excuse my compliment in Swiss German, or Appenzelese, dialect. 🤣
Swiss German is not hard to understand, but a tongue breaker. I am glad you commented.
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What a beautiful tradition! Such festivity that seems to mean so much to all who participate and observe. I have never heard that much about this, and I’m so happy to know about it. ❤️
It’s a fun event and writing about it and sharing the pictures was fun.
A beautiful photographic record of a splendid event – I didn’t skip a second go the video – well done for finding it
Oh, I am glad to know you watched the video. Thank you for letting me know.
This both beautiful in terms of the spectacle and fascinating in terms of the traditions. Thank you very much for sharing them with the rest of us!
Thank you so much for reading, Anne.
Share all and everything about the Tyrol all you like, Bridget. I love reading about these traditions. Often they seem intertwined in keeping the evil spirits at bay, something important to maintaining one’s sense of some control of uncontrollable forces in days gone by and attributed to religious reasons, I assume. The headdresses are impressive and no more so than the photo with the lady wearing traditional folk dress and the spectacular mountains in the background. Is that your photo? I was wondering which village that is from. I am especially interested in that region as a cousin’s family lived there and the Tyrolean regions has a special folk art style of which I painted and learnt for a few years. Amazing!
Religion and the fear of evil has always been in our lives and many of the Holidays we celebrate and the traditions we have wouldn’t be existing without it.
The folk dresses are worn for the tourists now or on very special occasions. The invention of the washing machine had quite an impact :-).
The herders wear today wear jeans, just like most of us. Now it’s not my photo, I was more of a tomboy (sigh) but had one dirndl (the female folk dress).
I am so glad you enjoyed my post. Thank you for commenting.
It was very enjoyable
I was a delight to learn about the “Hoamfahrt” in Austria and neighboring countries. The video explaining the tradition was quite interesting, too. But the cow bells–they’re so BIG!
Look at the bells and the collar and the size of the animal, and then look at the collars that dogs wear. But you are right, some of the bells are big and only worn on the way up and down the mountains. In the fields, during the summer time, they all wear simpler bells. The bells save lives. There are no fences and cows, just like humans have different tempers. While some stay close to the cabin, others are more adventurous. The bells helps locate them when they walk too far. Morning fog is a so common and last sometimes until lunch time. The sound of the bell helps the herder to keep the animals close.
How wonderful! The only one I can think of in the US is City Slickers movie.
What a great video you found Bridget, I really enjoyed it. Thank you.
Thank you, Peter
How wonderful. I would love to see that!!
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What a wonderful tradition, thank you for sharing the pictures and video are great. Claudia
Thank you for stopping by and reading my post. I am glad you liked it.
How beautiful is this! I love it and have added it to my bucket list. I must see this some day.
I hope you will. I was hoping you would enjoy it.