Kilting
The kilt gang was a secret rendezvous and nightly visit by a young lad to a girl. This particular type of courtship was known in large parts of central and northern Europe; In particular from the alpine and pre-alpine regions, diverse forms and designations - such as windows - have been documented.
The word kilt goes back to the Germanic kwelda- , which referred to the time of sunset. The activity of the kilt gang was also referred to with the verb kilten and the boy as kilter .
Although opposed by the Reformed Church , the kilt gang, which occasionally also involved sexual intercourse , enjoyed great popularity. Premarital pregnancies gave the fiancée the certainty that they could have children, which can hardly be overestimated in a rural setting, and were therefore treated with relative indulgence. Of course, the women also risked the shame of being born out of wedlock.
The painter , lithographer and etcher Franz Niklaus König (1765–1835) wrote about kilting in 1814:
- The kiltgang (boys visit the girls at night) is a deeply rooted and indestructible custom in the Canton of Bern. The youngsters visit the girls at night, sometimes individually, sometimes in company. The way goes through the window; but before that, speeches of tenderness are held, which are usually funny enough; and this is followed by a kind of capitulation. When they finally reach the Gade (upper room), the girls refresh them with kirsch. Everything else is then (as they say) with the greatest discipline and respectability! I like to believe that, although it doesn't get into my head: how a sprightly Aelpler is supposed to platonize? and whether he would make a rough mountain path of three to four hours, often with rain and wind, for just that, as is sometimes the case. In addition, there are often symptoms that look no less than platonic and usually lead to happiness after church.
The Kiltgang finds a literary processing in the so-called Kiltlied .
literature
- Paul Hugger: Kiltgang. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- The kilt gang. A serious word of friendship to Christian parents and housefathers. Jenni, Bern 1822. Digitized
