Post #1747608
2025-09-08 05:14 UTC
Replies (6)
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@nicopap@tooting.ch 2025-09-08 06:17
@dansimati As a Swiss, I grew up with the total belief that Tell was Swiss, and it's almost natural thinking it that way for me. Then I learned about _very_ similar legends all over Europe, and now I know it's not really fundamentally Swiss. So it's not as tied to Switzerland for me anymore. Also Hapsburg come from Aargau.
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@hiker@akk.fedcast.ch 2025-09-08 08:25
@dansimati Like every legend, it will also have a historical component, but it extends to more than one country—it is a legend about freedom (I am Swiss).
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@DerTapfere@swiss.social 2025-09-08 08:51
@dansimati I see the appropriation of a widespread legend as part of the creation of a mythological narrative that played an important role in shaping Swiss identity when Switzerland was founded as a nation (mid-19th century). Today, this mythology has lost any constructive purpose and is used only in marketing or as ideological vehicle for chauvinistic nationalists. So, yes and no.
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@bash2@momou.social 2025-09-08 10:29
@dansimati «No, and I'm Swiss.» is missing.
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@Penumbra@mastodontech.de 2025-09-08 11:50
@dansimati I'd say he's a largely or entirely fictional national hero, like they exist in many different countries, often with similar stories and alleged deeds. He appears to have been popularized by Schillers play, which was written during a time when the idea of nation states began to take hold throughout Europe, as did various founding myths. But yes, he, together with Helvetia, is an important (at least for some people) national symbol, like Columbia and Uncle Sam in the US.
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@regulatief@momou.social 2025-09-13 10:00
@dansimati Yougoslave! 🍎