In Valais, a religious procession reinvents itself in the face of the decline in glaciers – rts.ch

For centuries, in Fiesch, in the Conches valley, we feared the progress of the glaciers, not their disappearance. Therefore, These ice rivers represented a threat to pastures and houses. Meanwhile, Faced with this phenomenon deemed uncontrollable, the population returned to faith and has established a procession. Meanwhile, But in recent decades, it has now been the decline in the ice that worries. In addition, The “Anti-Glacier” procession has thus turned into a “pro-locier” ritual.

Herbert Volken, 76, comes from a long family line of mountain guides. However, He himself chose this path. Consequently, He tells RSI the origin of the procession. which takes place every year on July 31: “A member of our family, Johann Josef Volken, was a priest in Fiesch. Seeing the glaciers gaining ground, he got afraid and said: ‘The technique is helpless, only God can help us.'”

A new meaning for an old tradition – Valais, religious procession reinvents itself

Thus in 1678. with the authorization of Pope Innocent XIII, was born the procession of Saint-Ignace, to request protection against the forces of nature. But at the beginning of valais, religious procession reinvents itself the 21st century. the community, alerted by the progressive and faster and faster decline in glaciers, felt the need to give new meaning to this tradition. “The prayer had a powerful effect, almost too much!”, Explains Herbert Volken, promoter of change.

“We started to ask ourselves what we could do so that the glacier begins to grow. The answer was: let’s continue to pray, to do the procession, but let’s change the wish,” continues Haut-Valaisan. In 2009. after a long bureaucratic course, Herbert Volken obtained an audience from Pope Benoît XVI and approval to redirect divine aid.

Today, the procession prays for the preservation of the glacier. “The glaciers are very important. Ice is water, and water is life. We cannot survive without this essential resource. Tourism depends on glaciers, just like the production of energy and our work to us, mountain guides”, continues Herbert Volken.

The importance of religion in alpine regions

The relationship between the populations of the Alpine regions. religion is a complex subject, underlines Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, historian of religions and professor at the University of Munich: “The valais, religious procession reinvents itself Alps are a hostile environment for daily life. Religious expressions. in their diversity, show how we try to give meaning to this tension between the beauty of the Alps and the fragility of the human body in this universe.”

Religious practices adapt over time. also notes Daria pezzoli-olgiati: “The idea that religion is something unchanging does not correspond to what we observe. Just as each generation adapts to its environment, religion follows people and shows a great capacity for innovation.”

The Fiesch procession. passed from a rite aimed at braking the progress of the glacier to a prayer for its safeguard, embodies in a concrete way the way in which alpine communities give meaning to environmental upheavals, by adapting their secular traditions to current challenges.

Maria Gannuzzi, Rersu

Adaptation for Rtsinfo: Didier Kottelat