Sardonaalp mit Hexenbühl

Not far from the Sardona Hut, slightly to the west, lies the old sacred hill Hexenbühl, and just to the north, the place name Tüfelsruns (Devil’s Channel) stands out. There’s a strong presence of “witching” and “deviling” here. How should we understand this? Clues can be found in myths and legends—often the only surviving accounts from pre-Christian times. In these stories, witches, devils, and the damned dance, eat, and celebrate at midnight on Hexenbühl. What they are celebrating is not mentioned. But what do these tales originally refer to? In the Alps, seasonal festivals were still celebrated for a long time—here, Walpurgis Night and Midsummer, with the sacred marriage of the goddess of vegetation to the king of the seasons. What seemed entirely natural in matriarchal cultures eventually encountered resistance from the emerging patriarchal order. Rules, morality, and punishment for non-compliance became the new values. The goings-on at Hexenbühl were thus deemed immoral.