The Swiss, whether living in cities or in the country-side, have always practiced and cultivated their very own local customs. This provides the country with an enormous wealth of communal religious and secu-lar occasions and lively traditions. In many villages, districts and regions, these are essential parts of the cultural heritage that are integrated into everyday life and passed on, whether similar to 100 years ago or adapted to the present.

The photos and texts in this book do more than to convey a perfect, often well-established image of the tourism brochures, as they rather reflect the particular specific atmosphere that the authors and photog-rapher have experienced at each location. Through conversations with the participants, light is shed on what they do is really about and what it means for the individual person. It is a collection of beautiful trouvail-las and stories of people who cultivate their customs and traditions with a lot of heart and soul.