Something curious takes place in the Upper Vinschgau valley on the first Sunday in Lent. Men and boys brave the cold and, armed with branches, wooden disks and rope, meet on a hill in the village. They wait expectantly for nightfall so that they can get down to business. The day is called 'Scheibenschlagen-Sonntag', or 'disk-flinging Sunday', after all!

The right disk

Preparations for this ancient custom, which is said to procure good fortune for the year's harvest, start a few days in advance. In the valley, youngsters search for just the right hazel branch, also known as a 'Gaart', needed for flinging their wooden disks. These disks with a hole in the middle are carefully crafted by hand.“Once there was a Sunday disk that I painted with wood colours and kept for people particularly close to me“ tells Roland Peer from Haus Peer in Burgeis, a genunie Vinschgau local who has taken part for many years and has lots of stories to telll

“Watch my disk fly“

After joining forces, a high pole wrapped in straw and cross-bracing - the so-called 'witch' - is put up on 'Scheibenschlagen' Sunday and guarded around the clock by few brave souls! This pole is a fertility symbol and someone from the next village managing to set fire to it before evening would mean a loss of face. Setting fire? Oh yes! It's not until the evening that things really get going! Using the 'Gaart', the wooden disks are held in the fire and swung around the body several times so that they really smoulder. A rhyme is chanted, something like:

„Oh Reim Reim, fa wem weard eppr dia Scheib sein, dia Scheib und mai Kniascheib kearn dem Sepp und der Maria zun a guate Nocht, bis die Bettstott krocht. Hoaß, hoaß, olte Goas.“

'Oh rhyme rhyme, whose disk will it be, the disk and my kneecap wish Sepp and Maria good night until the bed cracks. There's life in the old dog yet'

Then the men throw their burning disks into the valley. If they manage to fling them long and far, their wish will come true. The crowning glory is when the 'witch' is set alight to cries and shrieks and thrown down into the valley, glowing. A custom that is really worth seeing and that enjoys a long tradition. Every private landlord or landlady has their own story to tell. You'll never be bored! There might even be a disk waiting for you...