L'Hom stream
L'Hom Strom ( , Rhaeto-Romanic in the idiom Vallader for "the straw man") is an ancient custom in the Lower Engadine capital of Scuol , which dates back to pagan times .
procedure
The custom takes place every first Saturday in February. The young men of the village collect straw in the farmhouses in order to pile it up in the Scuol village square to form an oversized Hom stream and tie it down. In the past four quarters set up their own Homs Stroms and guarded them to prevent their own Homs Strom from being set alight by young people from the other quarters.
In the afternoon, the Hom Strom is brought to Gurlaina (uninhabited district, known for the Gurlaina Bridge ). In the evening it is only set on fire after it has darkened, usually at 8 p.m. Death in the flames symbolizes the near end of winter and is accompanied by songs sung together by the population.
At the end of the custom, the four-stanza Hom Strom song is sung, which the Scuoler Men Rauch wrote in the 1950s. A Christian adaptation of the pagan custom can be seen in the fourth stanza of the song, where it says:
“Las flommas van in ot,
portond al Segner lod…”
"The flames are beating up,
bring praise to the Lord ..."
literature
- Scha l'Hom Strom arda paca pezza… Scuol ha festagià l'üsanza da l'Hom Strom [Rhaeto-Romanic, in German: When the straw man burns for a while ... Scuol celebrated the custom of the straw man]. In: Engadiner Post / Posta Ladina . February 8, 2011, p. 6.
Web links
- The tradition of L'hom strom on graubuenden.ch
Coordinates: 46 ° 47 '35.3 " N , 10 ° 17' 53.8" E ; CH1903: 818,286 / 186420