Even after I had a chance to sleep on it, so to speak, the ceremony still comes across as disturbing and perverse. I don't know if anyone caught the scene at the 2:14 mark, where they rolled out the half naked bunch and did a zoom-in of a dark haired girl, approach a blond female in front of her, place her mouth on the blond girls right breast and picked her up. That's gross! That's not "art" in my eyes but pure "porn"! And this is deemed "acceptable" to an audience of State Dignitaries and assorted who's who like Merkel, Hollander and whatever? Is it any wonder, why these same individuals turn a blind eye (as caretakers) to the suffering and destruction of "modern society"?
As far as trying to write this ceremony off - as Pagan traditions, maybe looking at the history of Switzerland would offer some clues. This link is a compressed summation of the Country:
http://swiss-government-politics.all-about-switzerland.info/swiss-history-traditions.html
Prehistory, Celts and Romans Covered by glaciers during the Ice Age, Switzerland was colonized only some 15,000 years ago. Celtic tribes, among them the Helvetians are the first inhabitants of Switzerland we have written reports of, however not by themselves but by their rivals, the Greeks and Romans. Roman commander Julius Cesar defeated the Helvetians in 58 B.C. and made Helvetia a Roman territory with fortified borders.
Middle Ages After 400 A.D. Germanic tribes wandered southwards and westwards. The Burgundians settled in western Switzerland and western France (today known as Burgundy). Like the Francs in northern France they assimilated to the gallo-roman culture, so Latin became the base for the French language. In contrast, the Alamannen infiltrated northern Switzerland and built small villages outside the Roman cities, stuck to the German language and customs while the Romans retreated. This is the origin of the border between German and French languages in Switzerland.
Charlemagne united all Germanic tribes in western Europe around A.D. 800, but after his death his sons split the empire into three parts: France, Burgundy-Lorraine and Germany-Italy. Therefore Switzerland was part of the Holy Roman Empire together with Germany, Austria and Italy during the Middle Ages. The counts of Habsburg, later to become famous as German and then Austrian emperors, originated from northern Switzerland.
Federal Charter (1291) About 1230 a new technology allowed to suspend catwalks in steep rocks, so the Schöllenen canyon in Uri (central Switzerland), a major obstacle on the direct way between Germany and Italy, could be overcome and the route between western Germany - Basel - Lucerne and Milan - Italy could be opened. Now central Switzerland raised the interest of the counts of Habsburg (then still residing in northern Switzerland). The counts tried to extend their rights while the local population defended their autonomy. This is the background of the first 1291 league by the cantons of Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden.
Conflicts with Habsburg As the counts of Habsburg sought a military solution, the conflict escalated and the young Swiss confederation was able to defeat the army of knights, which was a sensation at the time. In 1332, 1351 and 1353 the cities of Lucerne, Zurich and Bern joined the confederation. A period of military expansion to the south (canton Ticino), the northeast (cantons Aargau and Thurgau, homelands of Habsburg) and to the west (canton Vaud) followed. The new territories were not granted equal rights, however, but treated as subjects.
De facto Independence (1499) In 1499 an attempt of the German emperor to bind the diverging territories of the empire more tightly to the crown resulted in the so-called Swabian War, the emperor was defeated and Switzerland became de facto independent. Basel and Schaffhausen were admitted as members of the confederation in 1501 as a consequence. Switzerland was on the summit of its military power when in 1515 the inconsistent strategies of the members of the loose confederation caused a bitter defeat at Marignano (northern Italy) which stopped the period of expansion. Some historians see this event as a key factor for Switzerland's neutrality.
Swiss Reformation: Zwingli (1523), Calvin (1536) The Reformation (1523-1525 in Zurich by Zwingli, 1536 in Geneva by Calvin) split the country in two parts: while the he northern and western cities converted to the new creed, the rural areas of central Switzerland remained Roman Catholic. Four civil wars in 1529, 1531, 1656 and 1712 were waged because of religion.
Formal Independence (1648) Switzerland remained neutral as a country in the Thirty Years' War, but private mercenary troops recruited in Switzerland played some role. In 1648 the Treaty of Westphalia finally officialised Switzerland's independence from the Holy Roman Empire.
Revolution and Helvetic Republic (1798) Though the major cities and the free cantons in central Switzerland were formally republics, inegality and authoritarian rule in Switzerland had reached almost the same level than in neighbouring France. Numerous early local attempts of peasants under the rule of Bern, Lucerne and the confederation as a whole to get equal rights had all been crushed by military force, but after the 1789 French Revolution they could no longer be ignored. While authorities in eastern Switzerland realized that times were changing, the aristocrats of Bern thought they could withstand. So freedom fighters from canton Vaud, supported by French revolutionary troops defeated the old regime in 1798 and proclaimed the Helvetic Republic with a central government.
As the revolutionaries had underestimated the strong will to local self-determination in central Switzerland and problems of organizing a modern administration, the Helvetic Republic soon sank into chaos, despite French support for the revolutionary government. In 1803 the French emperor Napoleon decreed the so-called Mediation Constitution to Switzerland restoring moderately federalist structures while keeping up essential elements of the revolution.
Restauration (1815) After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Switzerland saw a counter-revolution and the old regimes returned to power in some cantons. The cantons of Aargau, Graubünden, St. Gallen, Thurgau, Ticino and Vaud could preserve their status as free members of the confederation, however. Geneva, Neuchâtel and Valais, former associates annexed by Napoleon, returned to Switzerland as full members.
Switzerland's Neutrality (1815) During Napoleon's wars, Switzerland had been an ally to France and a major battlefield between French and Russian/Austrian troops. The Vienna Conference of 1815 declared Switzerland's neutrality between European powers. At that time, all major European nations were interested in having Switzerland as a neutral zone between France and Austria. Switzerland's neutrality was fixed in international law and cannot be changed without the consent of all powers involved.
Liberal Regeneration (1830) The restoration of old regimes could not last for long. In the 1830's one canton after the other revised their constitutions (this basically non-violent democratic process is called regeneration). The background might be seen in Switzerland's early industrialisation strengthening the economic as well as the political influence of liberal entrepreneurs.
In the 1840's the ideological conflict between liberals and conservatives escalated, followed by provocations and violence from both sides. While there had been catholic liberals as well as protestant conservatives until the mid 1840's verbal interventions by the Pope and by catholic foreign kings as well as anti-clerical decrees by some liberal cantonal governments turned the ideological debate into a denominational one - at least in the eyes of some conservative catholics. When a secret alliance between the conservative catholic cantonal governments became public in 1847 they decided to declare civil war on the liberal cantons, but were defeated within a few days.
Federal Constitution (1848) Now the liberal winners had their chance to bring about radical change.
Switzerland's new federal constitution of 1848 not only established a federal state according to the model of the U.S.A. with both federal and cantonal authorities, it also introduced the Swiss Franc and the metric system of measure and weight instead of a jungle of cantonal units and abolished all sorts of internal toll systems - the basis for a common national market. The legislation on new key technologies (postal services, railways, telecommunication) as well as foreign affairs were put into the hands of the federal authorities, while the cantons kept control over traditional areas.
Industrial Revolution and Banking (19th century) The basis of Switzerland's banking system was laid by French protestants seeking asylum from persecution in the 16th to 18th centuries. Capital needs of industry and railway infrastructure boosted the banking sector. The unreached political stability of Switzerland's direct democratic system after 1848 and the stability of the Swiss Franc against inflation was a major factor making the Swiss banking system one of the world's leading repository for international accounts.
Switzerland in World War I (1914-1918) - Switzerland in World War II (1939-1945)
Switzerland remained neutral in both wars. Switzerland played an active role in establishing the League of Nations (a predecessor to the UN) at Geneva. (Geneva's Palais des Nations became the European Headquarters of the United Nations after World War II as well as of numerous international organizations even though Switzerland did not join the UN until 2002).
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As has been noted above, Switzerland has been the Counts of Habsburg stronghold and ancestral home since the early 1200's. Where the Habsburg's - the Helvetians that first populated the area with the Celtics some 15,000 years ago? Since the "Roman commander Julius Cesar defeated the Helvetians in 58 B.C. and made Helvetia a Roman territory with fortified borders" - the Habsburg's have struggled to regain complete control of their private domain. The fight has been with the Habsburg's verses Rome and the Catholic Church.
It's stated, About 1230 a new technology allowed to suspend catwalks in steep rocks, so the Schöllenen canyon in Uri (central Switzerland), a major obstacle on the direct way between Germany and Italy, could be overcome and the route between western Germany - Basel - Lucerne and Milan - Italy could be opened." The suspended catwalks gave the Habsburg's an economic advantage and easy assess route to Germany, Italy and beyond. Switzerland, positioning itself as "neutral territory" was a legal ploy to protect the Habsburg's ancestral lands and accumulated fortunes - giving them a base to expand their power and influence.
Switzerland's new federal constitution of 1848, not only established a federal state, it also introduced the Swiss Franc and the metric system of measure and weight. Think in terms - of the present Federal Reserve Banking System. All roads don't meet in Rome but at the Habsburg's doorstep in Switzerland. And the League of Nations (a predecessor to the UN) at Geneva (1914-1918) is used by the Habsburg's as a means of Global control.
This new tunnel system, the longest in the World, which took 17 years to build is far superior to the suspended catwalks of 1230. This massive accomplishment has probably been "a wet-dream" of the Habsburg's for a long time? I suspect, this whole "ceremony" is a reflection of the Habsburg Dynasty struggle for control and domination. The tunnel represents - the opening up - of a One World Order?