Almabtrieb (Cattle Drive)
11 September 2026 · movable holiday — Summer on the mountain is over – the herd comes home with songs and bells!
Almabtrieb (German for “driving the cattle down from the mountain pasture”) is a traditional procession in which herds return from high Alpine meadows to the valleys in autumn. All summer, cows, sheep and goats graze up high under the care of herdsmen. When the grass thins and the air turns cold, the animals head back to the villages. If the summer passed without accidents, the finest cow is decorated with a wreath of flowers, twigs and ribbons, and a large bell is hung around her neck. Herdsmen often wear regional costume. In many villages in Bavaria, Tyrol and Switzerland the procession becomes a festival with music, a market and local food. The date is not fixed: it usually falls between mid-September and early October and depends on the weather and the place. The custom follows the rhythm of the seasons: as the autumn equinox nears, days shorten and cool, and the herds come down from the mountains.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure made of luminous dots and fine lines, like a constellation drifting across the sky: a cow crowned with a wreath of little star-flowers and a big bell, led by a herdsman in traditional Alpine costume
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