Klausjagen

On the evening of 5 December, Kussnacht turns off its street lighting and several thousand participants move through the village in a fixed sequence. The centrepiece is the Iffele: mitre-shaped headdresses up to two metres tall, made of cut and coloured paper stretched over a frame and lit from inside by candles, carried in the dark so the whole street becomes a moving procession of illuminated stained-glass shapes. Ahead of them go men cracking whips, behind come cowbell ringers and horn players. The custom is old, part of a wider family of pre-Christmas processions, and was shaped into its present form in the nineteenth century. It is a village tradition rather than a staged spectacle, though it draws large crowds.

What you actually see

• Illuminated paper mitres - Iffele up to two metres, candlelit from inside.
• Streets with the lights off - the village darkened for the procession.
• Whip-crackers and bell ringers - the sequence before and after the Iffele.
• A fixed December date - the evening of the fifth, every year.

When to go

The evening of 5 December. An evening.

Honest expectations

It happens once a year and only then. Crowds are large and the village small; trains back are packed. It is cold and often wet. Photography in near-darkness is difficult. This is a community custom - respect the barriers and the participants.

Nearby

Kussnacht sits below the Rigi; Lucerne is a short train ride west.