Photos: The Swiss toot their own horns at an annual mountaintop festival

Hundreds of musicians and spectators came together for a celebration of Swiss culture on July 26 at the Lac de Tracouet in Nendaz, Switzerland. The occasion: this year’s annual three-day long Alpenhorn Festival.

The alpenhorn, a huge wooden wind instrument, is world-famous for its length—musicians must rest the bell of the horn on the ground in order to coax sound from it. Traditionally used by farmers to signal others across valleys, alpenhorns have become an emblem of Swiss identity. Though it’s uncertain where they originated, archeological findings date versions of the instrument to 1400 AD.