Chalandamarz in Sils
Overview
Intro
On March 1, the children parade through the village with bells and chase away the winter with singing, whip cracking and bell ringing.
"Chalandamarz, chaland'avrigl, laschè las vachas our d'uvigl..."
The roots of Chalandamarz can be found in pagan times, among the Romans. The month of March is dedicated to Mars, the god of the sun and war. According to the Julian calendar, the year began in March and, in the warmer regions, spring began with it.
This event was celebrated with grandiose festivals to ask Mars for his blessing for fields, meadows and livestock. The Romans also played an important role in the Engadin and have left behind traces of their customs. The invisible spirits are driven away by cracking whips, ringing bells and singing. This noise is said to instill fear in the winter (spirit) and thus awaken fertility.
The procession through the Val Fex takes place on February 27th.
Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.
| Contact address |
Sils Tourist Information
tourismus@sils.ch |
|---|---|
| Location |
7514 Sils / Segl Maria Switzerland |
| Event Homepage | https://www.engadin.ch/de/sils |
The content presented here is provided and updated by regional/local tourist offices or event organisers, which is why Switzerland Tourism is unable to guarantee the correctness of the contents.
Event dates
- 01 March 2026