^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Lenk commune (Bern canton, Switzerland)

See also:

Lenk

image by Pascal Gross

Per fess Vert a Semi-Plate issuant from the Chief from which are flowing towards base seven streams of the same and Gules a Sword and a Distaff both of the second in Saltire.
Zeljko Heimer, 23 April 2002

This is not a sun depicted on the flag of Lenk but a half circle from which flow seven sources (the seven sources of the river Simme). In the lower part we have a spindle and a sword which allude to the fight of the women of Lenk against the foreign invaders.
Pascal Gross, 22 April 2002

The spindle in the flag doesn't allude "to the fight of the women of Lenk against the foreign invaders". This could be a mix-up with the women of Burgdorf, whose help in fending off Habsburg troops in 1388 is recorded. There are at least two stories about the participation of the women of Lenk, on which the communal emblem is referring to. One is handed down by David Gempeler-Schletti in his book Heimatkunde des Simmentals from 1904:
"The warlike youth from Lenk had gone off to fight for their fatherland; the women and children and the older men had stayed at home alone to graze the cattle and do the work in the fields. The cunning, neighboring Valaisans noticed this, made a raid, crossed over [the mountains], stole a lot of cattle and drove them over the mountains towards the Valais. The robbed, men and women, got together and quietly followed the robbers in the dark. They found the cattle herded together on a pasture on the other side of the border, while the Valaisans had camped a little way off to rest and enjoy the beautiful spoils. The men of Lenk quickly and calmly removed the bells from the necks of their cattle and continued to ring them, while the women drove the cattle back to Lenk without making a noise or a sound. When the men thought the cattle were safe, they finally stopped ringing, grabbed the bells by the clappers and slipped away. When the Valaisans finally tried to inquire about the sudden silence, they were met by a resounding roar of derision from the heights. The Valaisans, who had been tricked and had to return home empty-handed, of course did not have to worry about the ridicule."

The other story reminds of the "Womens' Battle" (Wyberschlacht) on the Langermatte during the Villmerger Wars (1656/1712). The legend of the Wyberschlacht says that in the absence of the men who had gone to war, the women drove Valaisan cattle thieves away, armed only with tools. (Source: Hans A. Michel, Die Lenk in alter Zeit, 1978)

Martin Karner, 16 August 2024