That’s why the Jura is so sympathetic

The Federal Palace is celebrating on Thursday! In Bern the new Federal Councilor Albert Rösti (55), in Jura the new Federal Councilor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider (58) and in Freiburg the new Federal President Alain Berset (50).

And as you can hear in the lobby, the crowds are especially big at the election ceremony for Baume-Schneider. Even Berners prefer to party with her than with Rösti, and malicious tongues even report that the SP was desperately looking for people who show solidarity and – instead of Baume-Schneider – go to Freiburg with Berset.

This is not only due to the cheerful new SP federal councilor, but also to her homeland. During the Federal Council elections, Switzerland discovered its fascination for the youngest canton: not a bad word was spoken, not a negative cliché taken out of the mothball box.

But why is the Jura so sympathetic to everyone (except perhaps to the Bernese)? Blick asked five experts to answer this question:

• de Vaud ethnologist Pierre Centlivres, honorary professor at the University of Neuchâtel, who deals with regional identities
• the caricaturist Patrick Chappatte, who likes to sketch his home canton
• the journalist Arnaud Bédat, who lives in the Ajoie
• the Vaud comedian and actor Vincent Kucholl, imitating the Jura people in the RTS program “52 minutes”.
• the former SP national councilor Andreas Gross, who now lives in Saint-Ursanne JU

Their findings can be summarized in seven points.

“In this deadly boring, anxious Switzerland, you kind of forget about this part of the country, where the people are objectively nice, where there’s a certain freshness and zest for life,” says Chappatte. “Just like Elisabeth Baume-Schneider: she wanted to run for office and did not let any of the predictions stop her. And she won people over with her sympathy,” says the well-known artist with Jura roots.

“She saw an opportunity, made a bold decision and went full out: that’s the Jura mentality,” says journalist Bédat. It is also peppered with a certain joie de vivre: “Here everyone greets everyone, even if they don’t know each other.”

His love for the Jurassic is relatively new though, he adds: “For a long time we weren’t really noticed, we thought we were backwaters and there was talk of a ‘land of wolves’.”

The sympathy for the Jura also has to do with the way people treat each other there, says Bédat. Friendship is sacred, at the same time you tell each other what you think. “This can lead to fierce arguments! But in the bistro everything can be arranged if you show intelligence and good will. There is no resentment, we want to live in harmony!”

Zurich-born Andreas Gross, who moved to Saint-Ursanne JU almost 23 years ago, has a similar opinion. However, the sympathetic side of the Jura is a bit overrated. They are no more open there than the average Swiss. “The happiness, the celebrations, are always directed inwards. There is a tendency to be suspicious of the stranger who enters.”

The ethnologist Pierre Centlivres, who lives in Neuchâtel, says: “The Jura is a peripheral region. Therefore, it does not pose an economic threat to the powerful cantons, it is not a competitor. So there is something reassuring about it – and that makes it difficult to portray the population as arrogant.”

Patrick Chappatte agrees: “Switzerland is not too concerned about the Jura because it is not on the Geneva-Zurich axis. People don’t travel there very often. With the choice of Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, his witty and personal side has now been rediscovered. You love the people of Jura because you don’t know them. But you don’t love them until you know them.”

“The Jura also has a sympathetic image because it is a canton with a feeling for festivals,” says ethnologist Centlivres. Think of Saint Martin’s Day, celebrated on November 11 in the Ajoie, where guests party and eat well into the night, from black pudding to totché, that traditional sourdough and sour cream pie.

Patrick Chappatte also calls the Jura “a small, happy country where people reinvent the world in smoky taverns”. How can this be explained? “The rural character translates into a way of life that is good-natured, authentic and social at the same time,” says comedian Vincent Kucholl.

For Arnaud Bédat, the reasons for this lie in history: “The fact that we were French until 1815 sets us apart from the rest of Switzerland. We inherited the best of France: the culture, the love of discussion, the laughter and, of course, the sacred aperitif.”

Jurassic are rebels. “The Jura has broken away from its powerful home canton of Bern, where, after all, the federal capital is located,” recalls Pierre Centlivres. Many Swiss could identify with this resistance of the small against the great, with this “Asterix the Gallic attitude”.

As a result of this struggle for autonomy, the Jurassic people are also very political, Chappatte adds: “Politics run through their veins like Damassine plum brandy!” He noticed this when he organized a debate in the context of an exhibition on the death penalty – the room was packed.

Pierre Centlivres, former director of the Ethnological Institute of the University of Neuchâtel, has another reason: “The Jura has beautiful landscapes, but it is not a tourist monster like Valais.” Valais arouses envy in the neighboring cantons of western Switzerland because it benefits financially from nature, the Alps.

The Jura, on the other hand, is missing a jewel in tourism, says comedian Kucholl. He has therefore also been spared the hustle and bustle and has no appeal that tempts to boast. In plain language: in the Freiberge or in Delsberg the money does not flow every winter. “The Jura is more exotic than Valais because it is less known.”

Catalonia, Corsica, Québec, Scotland: in Spain, France, Canada and Great Britain, these regions are often hated for their separatist movements. The inhabitants of the Jura have a good image – except perhaps in Bern. Why? The ethnologist Centlivres says: “Because the Jura no longer makes these kinds of demands.” Elisabeth Baume-Schneider’s choice shows that the canton is ready to play on the national stage.

But even when the Jura separatism movement was active, it did not anger the rest of Switzerland. “In German-speaking Switzerland there may have been a certain antipathy in solidarity with Bern,” Chappatte recalls. In Romandie, on the other hand, the actions of the Béliers were ridiculed.

The Jura appeals to people “who love nature, hate money and are looking for freedom, both geographically and politically,” says newcomer Andreas Gross. The Lesser Jurassic is comparable to the expanse of the Yukon in Canada. “He is an Eldorado for anyone looking for an alternative to the mainstream.”