Santic Gotthard Tunnel Ceremony

If you have been watching any media this pass week you more than likely saw the very interesting, strange, and weird (that would be the word I would use) opening ceremony. Most people saw clips of the ceremony but might not have seen the whole ceremony. The ceremony consisted of  lots of parts that were very pagan.

There is a story of an impassable mountain pass. The people asked the devil to make a bridge that they could use to pass. The devil said that he would but his payment would be the soul of the first thing that crossed the bridge.

(Above picture is of the Gotthard Bridge is Switzerland.)

(A woodcut of the folktale of the Devil’s bridge.)

A goat passed on it and the devil killed it.  The devil got mad and went to pick up a rock. One of the people in the group was a Christian and had painted a cross on that rock. The devil was not able to pick up the rock and when he saw that the rock had a cross on it fled. They had not heard from him since.

(A woodcut of the folktale of the Devil’s bridge.)

For the account of this story on Wikipedia here is the link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthard_Pass

This rock which is not one that could be picked up by anyone is not just a small rock. It is a huge rock. “The rock is still there and, in 1977, 300,000 Swiss francs were spent to move the 220 ton rock by 127 m in order to make room for the new Gotthard road tunnel.”

The Gotthard road tunnel has been in use since 1980 and the Gotthard rail tunnel has been in use since 1882. This same mountain pass is where the new Gotthard Base Tunnel is located. The ceremony that is named in this article is for the new Gotthard Base Tunnel.  Now this is just the first part that is being opened at the moment. There will be more sections to this railway to finished and opened by December 2016.

So what is the point of this tunnel you might ask? Well, I wondered the same thing. Here is the information I got from the wikipedia article Gotthard Base Tunnel.

It is a tunnel that consists of two single track tunnels that connect the villages of Erstfeld in the canton of Uri (a canton is like a state, there are 26 of these cantons that make up Switerland) and Bodio in the canton of Ticino. This tunnel will be a portion of the Alp Transit project. It will also have a sort name of NRLA that will stand for New Railway Link through the Alps. That is a mouthful so I am glad they will be just calling it the NRLA.  This is a pretty important tunnel. This tunnel is what kept Hitler treasures hidden well after the war. Swiss banks have been known for its banking secrecy. This area of the world has been known for its secrets and impassible mountains unless you took the routes already carved into the mountain side or the railway tunnels. So it should not surprise us that it has other secrets.

Pagan beliefs have been practiced in Switzerland for many years. Krampus which is like anti- Santa (yes, you heard that right) comes around the first of December to tell bad children to be better or they will be whipped. There are other myths but most of the ones about the tunnel are about the devil himself.

(Actor dressed as Krampus during a KRAMPUSLAUF ceremony.)

That could explain the very elaborate ceremony ritual that was created by German director Volker Hesse. There are many elements that make up this ritual. The whole ceremony was performed outside and inside the tunnel with different costumes, props, 600 dancers, acrobatics, and dramatic actors. The entire ceremony was reported as hours long. Most reporters were encouraged to video tape but with most devices only recording short snippets at most i have not found the entire ritual to watch in its entirety.  

For more information on this Gottard Base Tunnel ceremony in Switzerland click the link below:

https://youtu.be/C9Ah9MMAOYk