Legend – Switzerland

In Switzerland the border of Switzerland and France there is a separation created by a river. Basically on the Swiss side there is a mountain, it’s like a hill, but it’s just like a rock face. And you look at the rock face and you look at it at a certain angle it looks like exactly like the face of John Calvin the Protestant reformer. The story goes as when he visited the town that was right near there, there was at around the same time that he visited the town, that side of the hill just collapsed and then there was just his face.

Jack believes that since there is a strong following of Calvanists there that this is a legend that is used to further their belief that what John Calvin was teaching was the correct way to view religion. These people hold on to the legend because it proves that this sign is for the approval of Calvanism from God.

I believe this may have also been used by people to bring people to be Calvanist because it seems to be more acceptable if a religion has signs that point to why it is the correct way to view the world. In this case I think the sign of the hill side giving way to an image of John Calvin maybe slightly twisted because we do not know exactly how close this image is to what John Calvin looked like. Also, if you have to stand at a certain angle, to me that would mean that there is a good chance that there are other people in the world that would say it looks like someone else.

Had this happened in another country I think the image in the rock would be totally different. I believe that this is again a legend that is mainly told to people of the area. I think the most likely reason for know this legend would be from visiting the area.

Jack did visit the area and that is why he knows of the legend. I know only because I had asked for some folkloric tales. I believe had I not really asked for some folklore from him for this project that it would be unlikely  that he would have told me this legend.