Swiss Sojourn 6
VI. Bells du Jour
Continued from Getting Around. The observations in this entry from 1995 or 6 have been updated to reflect subsequent clamors.
The Protestant Ethic is drummed in many ways here, most obviously by the cursed church bells. You cannot go anywhere in town without being within earshot (several hundred meters) of a church tower, if not several. Every 15 minutes, all of these steeples bang their bells, once at 15 past, twice at half past, three at quarter to, and then on to tolling the hour. Some hours are special: during the workweek, 7 AM & PM are normally announced with five minutes of continuous bonging that may stretch to ten. And it’s not tuneful bonging, more like Edgard Varese pulling the ropes with devilish glee. On weekends, different churches peal their chimes as early as 6 AM, for up to an hour and again at the last service. Today, a Saturday, a church let loose for ten minutes at 11 AM, just as I walked past. Go figure.
Strangely, this heavy metal mayhem hardly seems to bother Zürichers, who have aversion to car horns, PA systems and other sources of loud noise, patrons of music clubs excepted. There’s even an organization called Lärmsensible (“sensitive to noise”) that campaigns for a quieter Switzerland, but it hasn’t gotten very far in the church sector. Recently a Swiss court struck down an agreement between a church in neighboring Waedenswil and a nearby couple to chime more moderately between 10 PM and 7 AM. Church Council member Peter Meier “said he was pleased an independent survey which showed that 79 percent of people in Waedenswil were not disturbed at all by the sound of bells in the night had been recognized by the court.”
It’s we foreigners who can’t get over it (though we’re often assured that in time we will). A while back there was an extended conversation about bells on the English Forum Switzerland message board you can refer to. A few of the several hundred comments:
+ Bong!!! There go the 10pm bells. It seems they have one deep chime for quarter past, 2 for half past, 3 for :45 and then however many in a different tone for the hour. How many hunchbacks can there really be in Zurich?
+ Almost everywhere in Zurich you’re going to have to put with at least one set of church bells.
+ You get used to it pretty quickly though. As for when they ring, well, that’s a mystery that no-one can answer ;-)
+ Sunday is the worse day — which still makes me laugh as its supposed to be a work free noise free day, what about the noise pollution of the tuneless bells but at least on a Sunday there is a slight element of a tune compared to the ding, ding, ding, ding of the bells during the week — grrrrrrr.
+ They start around 8am on a Sunday near me, I live between 2 church bells, the one nearest stops about 11.30 ish and starts again at 6.45am but one a bit further away chimes all night — glad I don’t live near that one!
One consequence of this tradition is that nobody here can ever be very uncertain of what time it is, and that time is surely passing as we speak, work, eat, sleep, idle or write, slipping away, drawing us nearer to thee and thine eternity. The Swiss are not casual about time; this may have some bearing on why recent times have been favorable to them. Although they will tell you that their economy is in a slump, they seem to be as efficient and industrious as ever, and — unlike Americans — most Swiss I have talked to appear to be optimistic about what the future will bring to their nation. But they are not sure whether that will be due to European integration or in spite of it.
Another consequence is that after my watch broke I didn’t miss it at all except when I traveled. After a while, I didn’t even need churches to clue me in to the correct time. And still, as I go about my day or I awake in the middle of the night, I can usually guess what time it is within about ten minutes. Seems Zürich wound my biological clock.
