Canzun de Sontga Margriata (Song of St Margaret) is one of the oldest surviving songs in the Romansh language. In the middle of the 19^th century, it was still sung by the women farmers of Graubünden as they worked in the fields.

The song tells the story of St Margriata, who worked in disguise as a man on a high field, or alp, for seven summers, until a shepherd boy discovered, by chance, that the supposed shepherd is actually a beautiful woman. He thinks he must reveal this secret to the herdsman. In response, Margriata offers him ever more valuable and enchanting gifts, but the boy refuses to be dissuaded. Margriata then curses him so that he sinks three fathoms into the earth and leaves the alp forever. The springs run dry and the meadows wither.

The song Canzun de sontga Margriata is considered a jewel of Romansh oral literature and is unique in Europe.

Iceland Moss

The female name Margriata has an interesting connection to a type of vegetation that has always been reviled: the Iceland moss (Cetraria islandica). This is a type of lichen that occurs on dry, high-altitude alpine and arctic pastures and at the base of mountain forests, and is known as Jarva Sontga Margriata or Jarva smaledida (cursed herb) in Grisons Romansh. According to popular tradition, the plant only became a cursed, bitter herb when St Margriata cursed the alp. The plant was used as a remedy for lung ailments and in Iceland, it was often used as food.

Hidden identities
The song is about being human, with all the attendant wishes and needs. Respect, tolerance, living diversity – these are the goals.