158,501 views
In the old South Tyrolean farmhouses, often only the living room is heated in winter: that's why people spin and make baskets, carve, knit and weave. In Enneberg in the Gadertal valley, Regina makes beautiful arrangements, bouquets and wreaths out of paper flowers, gold wire and glass beads. She makes 'buschen' for traditional hats, wreaths for the wreathed cows when they are brought down from the mountain pastures, she makes steles for the altar in the church and small wreaths out of wax flowers for the bride and for the first communicants. In the Sarntal valley, on the Krösshof, the whole family -- three generations -- makes 'toppar', slippers made of scraps of fabric with felt soles. In the Arntal valley, Hermann carves one Holy Spirit after another, and because he carves to stock up, his entire living room ceiling is covered with holy doves, each with a halo on its back. In the Ultental valley, Wascht from Oberhof turns an entire cowhide into a rope. A rope that is used to tie the hay firmly to the sledge when it is pulled down from the alpine meadows to the farms in winter. All in all, the washer needs over a week to make one such rope. First, the stiff cowhide has to lie in the well trough for three days so that it becomes supple again and the washer can cut it into narrow strips. Then it is carefully dehaired, because only from the smoothly shaved strips can the 'hay rope', as the Ultners call it, be braided. While the washer is working in the warm room, visitors come, they lie on the stove bench, they eat and heat the fire.