Today we headed down to Aproz in Canton Valais to see the
Cow Fights which take place here every year. The Combats des
Reines, as they are known locally, aren't the Running of the
Bulls in Pamplona or the fine art forms of the Spanish Matador.
This is Switzerland where things are much more sedate. Each
Reine (or Queen) will fight another Reine for dominance of
her herd. Weighed in, each cow is allocated a to a weight category
much like a boxer is. In the ring, the cows graze the ground
and kicks up the dirt. An opponent approaches. And does likewise.
Each eyeing the other up suddenly they lock horns. Locked in
fierce combat. The rapidity of engagement contrasts with the
slowness of the eye-ing up. The determination of the combatants
for supremacy is clear in the length of the bouts.
The Hérens breed of cow is unusually aggressive and earnest in its quest to form a social hierachy. The Hérens breed, with their sturdy horns and frankly awesome build, are an unsurprising breed as fighters. Their sheer enornmity and breadth of shoulders is comparable to the size of bulls in other breeds.
After
the fights, we decided to take advantage of the excellent weather
and walk back to Sion. The walk from Aproz took us around about
an hour and, rather than follow the cycle path, we used the
church and castle in Sion as guide back to town. Both the Church
and Castle are high above the city of Sion and are visible
from many miles away in good weather - which makes them excellent
beacons for navigating your way back to town.
About the Cow Fights
The Hérens breed of Cow are naturally aggressive and fighting to establish a social hierachy is a natural act. The leaders from this contest, and from contests in other communes/Gemeinde, will go forward to the Cantonale Finals to be held on the 11th of May 2008 in Aproz. Contests are usually held on Sunday - one a week for several weeks before the final itself. The contests start at around 9 in the morning and finish around 5ish. Each bout lasts around 40 minutes but this very much depends on how long the cows spend locking horns.
Logistical notes for this trip
We left this morning (Sunday) on the 9 am train from Zürich. At Visp (Viege) we change trains to Sion. From right outside Sion train station we took the bus to Aproz. We headed back to Sion, we discovered that (on Sundays) there are only three buses a day back to Sion. Which really means you need to have a car or time your departure to coincide with a bus depature. The SBB have full timetable details.
