thumb|Aperschnalzen, in Salzburg, 2005
'''Aperschnalzen''' (Austro-Bavarian '''''Apaschnoizn''''') is an old tradition of competitive whipcracking revived in the first half of the 20th century in Bavaria and Salzburg. The word "aper" means "area free of snow" in the Bavarian language.
The Aperschnalzen involves the rhythmic snapping and cracking of a whip up to 4 m in length (called "Goassl" in Austro-Bavarian) and takes place at the end of January and early February. It is performed in small groups ("Passen" in Bavarian) of 7, 9 or 11 members each.<ref>[http://austria-lexikon.at/af/AEIOU/Aperschnalzen/Aperschnalzen_english Aperschnalzen (austria-lexikon.at)]</ref> It has been thought that this tradition had a pagan meaning of "driving the winter away" by whipcracking.
<gallery> File:Whipcracking Aperschnalzen.jpg|The whip File:Whipcracking Aperschnalzen Detail.jpg|Different whip models File:Whipcracking Aperschnalzen the Cracker.jpg|The cracker </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}} * Andrea Euler-Rolle: ''Zwischen Aperschnalzen und Zwetschkenkrampus. Oberösterreichische Bräuche im Jahreskreis''. Landesverlag, 1993. {{ISBN|978-3-85214-591-4}} * [http://home.comcast.net/~a-mcnibble/Rants/WhyWhipsCrack.pdf Why Whips Crack]
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [https://www.schnalzen.de/ Homepage Schnalzer Association] * [http://austria-lexikon.at/af/Wissenssammlungen/AEIOU_Video_Album/Aperschnalzen ''Burschen beim Aperschnalzen'' (Video)] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120208031405/http://www.davidmorgan.com/whipcracking.html The art of whipcracking]
Category:Culture of Altbayern Category:Whip arts