Laundry

Washdays in the Museum

The big wash often lasted several days. It not only required careful preparation such as sorting out and soaking the washing, cleaning the apparatus, hanging up the washing lines, preparing the firewood and so on, but also many helping hands. Family members were set to work, as were the servants and washer women in more prosperous households. The washdays in the Museum, which take place on one weekend every two years, provide a real spectacle. The washing is done near the Farmhouse from Eggiwil (351) just as it was on a farm in the Emmental in the old days.

Ashes instead of soap

The dirty washing, well packed into a linen cloth, is placed in large wooden vat. The washer women lay a small sack full of beech ashes, which serve as soap, right in the bottom of the vat. Water is boiled and poured over the washing. As it runs out of the vat it is collected, reheated and poured over the washing again. As a result of this repeated pouring on of water the ashes combine with the water to form a leaching solution which dissolves the fat and the dirt. After it has been rinsed in the trough at the fountain the clean, beautifully fresh-smelling washing is hung out to dry on the line in the orchard.

Public laundry of Bodio

In the central Alps and in southern alpine zones beating the wash was common – women used open air laundry spots on brooks, covered laundering pavilions or wash houses for the purpose. An example therefor is the public laundry of Bodio (852), known here as a “lavatorio”.