Tobias Holländer

What people wore

Saber as a Festive Accessory

It was a widespread custom for Swiss men to carry a saber as an accessory to their festive attire when attending special occasions such as weddings.

Daily life

The custom of sharing spoons

Families shared individual wooden spoons that were licked clean after meals and stored in a wall drawer, a custom linked to the idiom for dying.

Work

Seasonal Work Cycle for Men

A common seasonal work pattern for men was performing agricultural day labor in summer and shifting to spinning silk, wool, or cotton during the winter.

Music

Bagpipes used for dancing

The bagpipe was a popular instrument for dances, mentioned in court records such as the 1650 case where a player identified as Spilmann provided music for a woodland dance.

At the table

Rural diet of potatoes and salt

In the Bernese Oberland region, many rural people subsisted for most of the year on potatoes eaten without any seasoning other than salt.

Getting around

Common modes of transport

For most, the primary methods of travel were walking or riding on horseback, sometimes with two people on one horse.

What it cost

Food purchasing power of one hour's work

In 1630, one hour of labor could buy approximately 0.21 kg of grain, 0.17 kg of beef, or only 0.04 kg of butter.