“Oh rhyme, rhyme, whose disc should this be?" This is the quaint Venosta Valley spoken melody as it occurs in the
archaic ritual of launching burning discs known as Scheibenschlagen. In the holiday region Silandro and Lasa, as in the rest of Venosta Valley, many of these pagan, later Christianized customs have been preserved up until today. Every first Sunday of Lent between
Vezzano/Vetzan and Malles/Mals, the traditional Scheibenschlagen takes place – Winter is thereby expelled and love and fertility poetically evoked in a fire ritual.
In order for Spring to show its blooming face, the demons of the cold and darkness must be expelled first. Wooden discs mounted on sticks are made to glow in an open fire. The
red-hot slices are then sent flying off into the wide valley accompanied by
rhyming chants and
well-wishes. If the disc flew off easily and “flew well", then it will bring good luck. In the end, a witch made of straw, and a few meters tall, which symbolizes the Winter, is burned.