St. Moritz, Switzerland

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Yesterday, I had lunch with an old friend of mine who was in town. She lives in another state but was passing through and called me. I was so surprised to hear from her, that she was actually here in town. I stay in touch with her by email, but she hadn’t told me that she was coming this way. We had a great visit and a nice lunch, but what we talked about was even more interesting. She had taken a trip to St. Moritz, Switzerland a few years ago and told me the most interesting story. I’m not sure how we got on the subject, but we were talking about traveling, which she and I both have done quite a bit. So, she told me about this information that she had learned, while she was in St. Moritz, which is a world famous holiday resort in Switzerland’s very picturesque Engadine Valley situated in the snowcapped Alps, near the Italian border. She knew that I had visited Switzerland, but not that area. She began to tell me about a tradition that dates back to the mid-17th century, that she learned about while she was there and I was fascinated. She began to tell me about this very unusual detail on many of the houses in this area. Over the main door of the house front, it is not unusual to find God’s name, JEHOVAH, (spelled JEOVA in the Romansh language) inscribed along with a Bible scripture. These inscriptions are either painted on the surface or carved into the plaster. One house in the village of Bever, she said, also had the date. (1715) And another one that she saw was in the village of Madulain with the date. (1654) I told her that when I visited Lucerne, Switzerland that I had also seen Jehovah’s name inscribed above the door of a 500 year old church there in Lucerne, when our group went on a walking tour of the city. It was pointed out us, as we entered the church. But, I had no idea that people had inscribed God’s name on their homes also. After she and I parted that day, I decided to do some research last night, on this unusual tradition and found that back in the era of the Reformation, the Bible was published in Romansh (a Latin-based language, which is still spoken in Engadine.) In fact, the Bible was the first book ever translated into that language. So the people there, many years ago, evidently moved by what they read in the Bible decided to inscribe scriptures which included God’s name on the exterior of their homes. These homes, amazingly still stand there in that area.