Maiensäss
The Maiensäss (or Maiensäß ), also Maisäss (Maisäß), Maien, Vorsäss (Vorsäß), Hochsäß, Niederleger, Unterstafel, in Graubünden also Rhaeto-Romanic acla , in Ticino Monti , is a special form of Alm / Alp : a cleared area with huts and stables. There is at least one small house and stable on every hut; as an ensemble, it sometimes has a village character (Almdorf), especially with its own church. A Maiensäss is still below the tree line at an altitude of approx. 1200 to 1600 meters (Niederalpe / -alm) . The Middle and High Alps with the Bergmähdern follow.
Maiensasses are particularly widespread in the Swiss cantons of Graubünden , Valais and Ticino , in western Tyrol and in Vorarlberg .
Origin of the word
The word 'Maiensäss' derives from the month of May , when the cattle were raised for the first time; it means 'May seat'. The synonymous Langsifart (spring trip ) knows the same motif . A derivation of mowing is linguistically and factually not possible.
The word is first used in Vorarlberg in 1380 as maygen gesäß . The Swiss Idioticon takes the word from 1540 (meiensess), from the St. Gallen Rhine Valley (Grabserberg) adjoining Vorarlberg. The word is based in Eastern Switzerland in Switzerland to this day; The idioticon, on the other hand, attests to the Bernese and central Swiss councils , which are synonymous , as early as 1372. The basic word, according to the down-to-earth dialect, is mhd. sëss 'seat' and is therefore pronounced with a short [ɛ]; the pronunciation with a long [ɛː], which is often used today, is etymologically incorrect.
History of the Maiensässwirtschaft
The Maiensasses represent a special cultural landscape. Their origin goes back to the centuries-old history of the three-stage economy in agriculture, a form of transhumance . The independence consists in the fact that usually the entire farm economy moved to the Maiensäss, while in other Alpine regions only the alpine / dairy workers spent the season in the high areas. Until the 20th century, the three-tier economy envisaged extensive use of the entire vegetation of the habitat in the high alpine region.
Until the Maiensäss areas were opened up for traffic, the milk was processed into butter and cheese on the spot, which can still be proven in many places through inventories and which still happens occasionally today. Therefore, good cellar on many mountain pastures created because you dairy products usually only with the cattle drive brought to the valley: This warehouse management form of the dairy 's reputation is based in the Swiss, Vorarlberg and Tyrol mountain cheese , an extremely durable hard cheese.
Today, many mountain pastures are no longer managed, but used as a vacation spot or rented out. This can have the consequence that new shops, restaurants or streets are built in the area for the holidaymakers and the landscape is gradually and disadvantageously changed as a result.
Designs
On the Maiensässen one was content with the most necessary rooms, but the size and number of these were repeatedly adapted to requirements. The residential and stable buildings were separated - their proximity to one another is a characteristic of the Paarhof complexes common in the Montafon.
- Residential buildings: These have at least two separate rooms. The house is entered through the hall kitchen, which is followed by the room or chamber.
- Barn: The barn is on the ground floor and above it is a storage area for hay or straw.
- Barge: In order not to have to carry the hay long distances uphill during harvest, these storage buildings were placed at the lowest points of the cultivation area. These single-storey buildings usually have two openings: a hatch on the mountain side for bringing in the hay and, in the direction of the valley, a door for removal in winter with a horn sledge .
In the past, the Tiaja design (living, dairy, storage and stable rooms under one roof) was also widespread.
The buildings were made of spruce wood (round or trimmed) in block construction and stone. The roofs are usually designed with nail shingles with three to fourfold overlap.
literature
- Martin Boesch: The fall of the Maiensäss culture. On the cultural landscape change in the Alpine region. In: Bündner monthly newspaper. Zeitschrift für Bündnerische Geschichte und Landeskunde 4, 1992, pp. 312–323. Again in: Texts on the village history of Untervaz. Edited by Untervaz Castle Association Untervaz. o. O. 1992 ( digitized version ).
- Barbara Keiler and Klaus Pfeifer: Plazadels and Wachters Dieja: Maisäß settlements in the Gauertal. Schruns 2001 (Montafon Series 2), ISBN 3-901833-13-7 .
- Josef Zurkirchen (Ed.): Montafoner Heimatbuch. Schruns (Vorarlberg) 1974.
Individual evidence
- ^ Charles Knapp, Maurice Borel, Victor Attinger, Heinrich Brunner, Société neuchâteloise de geographie (editor): Geographical Lexicon of Switzerland . Volume 1: Aa - Emmengruppe . Verlag Gebrüder Attinger, Neuchâtel 1902, p. 18, keyword Acla ( scan of the lexicon page ).
- ↑ https://peter-hug.ch/MONTI/43_0422
- ^ Leo Lutz: Vorarlberg Dictionary , Vol. II 338.
- ↑ Schweizerisches Idiotikon Vol. VII 1381/2, word articles Sëss, Vor-Sëss and Maien-Sëss . The short pronunciation of the vowel documented in the Alpine dialects can only go back to Germanic ë; Umlauted high German ā would have retained its long quantity.