Stories of cattle in Provence

Provence is the donkey, the mule, the horse... but also the ox. Discover the essential role of beef in the rural lifestyle of Var, a region of Provence where ancestral traditions and legends mingle to celebrate the importance of these animals. From the authenticity of the fieldwork to the celebration of the ‘tripettes' in the honour of Saint Marcel, Claude Boyer and André Abbe make us plunge into a universe rich in stories and emotions, where the past always reveals itself. Welcome to the fascinating world of the oxen of Provence.

Beef in the workplace

In the book « Women of Provence »We discover Madame Laugier in front of her farm. See you in Fayence (Var). The Laugier farm still used beef in 1991. André Abbe met them.

We Varois do not have the « fe di biou » (the faith of the bulls, which in French does not mean much) ... and yet the ox was very present in the life of our rural world. The ox was an idiot in the same way as the horse and the mule. The centre of beef rearing was the village of Cuebris (O6) near Roquesteron. In the wetlands, the horses became dusty (lung malady) and the oxen, the example of Cogolin, near Saint-Tropez... at the time of Brigitte Bardot's arrival, the last ox plowed the vineyards of Cogolin. I had the chance to film for the show. « Vaqui » the last day of work of the last pair of ploughing oxen from Provence, at Monsieur Laugier in Fayence. Moment of great emotion. The bouvier had three oxen, the left-hander, the right-handeder and the replacement. The left-handed could not work to the right and vice versa. The replacement was raised to work on both sides.

A rapprochement can be made with the first lines of rugby. Left pillars can rarely play right... Let rugby lovers not offend rapprochement. Be careful, I'm not saying that there are no more pairs of oxen in Provence. We take them out for the holidays. I saw one at the Petit Saint John parade in Valréas (84). But don't rely on them to plow your vines. I am in favour of their existence. They give young generations a better understanding of our past...

André Abbe

Beef in tradition

For almost 700 years, the Var village of Barjols has celebrated the « triplets » The day of St. Marcel... Claude Boyer tells us.

Where does the tradition of the Barjols Tripettes come from?

Legend says that in V^e Saint Marcel, who was the bishop of Die in the Drôme, returned home after being received by the pope in Rome. On the way, death surprised him while he was between Aups and Barjols at the level of the monastery of Saint-Maurice, where he was naturally buried. The time passed, the monastery was abandoned and, emptied of its occupants, it ended up falling into ruins. Only a faithful man remained to watch over the bishop's tomb, and one night St. Marcel appeared to him and asked him that his remains should be transferred to a place worthy of his condition rather than to rest in the midst of these wretched walls. Now, as we have seen above, St Marcel died halfway between Aups and Barjols, so the two villages disputed the remains.

The dispute was born: who would "recover" the Holy One?

The Count of Provence, passing to Brignoles, had wind of the dispute; He received both sides and held a judgment worthy of Solomon:

« Measure the distance between your respective villages and the remains of Saint Marcel, the nearest one will house the saint. »

So was done. The legend does not tell how much the difference was made, but it was the Barjolais who won and took relics to the great damn of the Aups. We were on January 16, 1350. But it turns out that every January 16th, the Barjolais were celebrating by sacrificing an ox whose tripes, placed in large baskets, were walking in the streets of the village dancing the farandole. This custom recalled that a few years earlier, the Barjolais had been saved from famine by the providential arrival of an ox!

So the bearers of relics arrive in the middle of the feast while the animal is being depopulated. We kiss, we congratulate ourselves and all together, religious and pagan, run towards the collegiate, mixing profane and sacred, enter the church intoxicated with joy (and perhaps not that...) and jump by singing:

– Sant Macèu, Sant Macèu, li tripeto, li tripeto...(– Saint Marcel, Saint Marcel, tripettes, tripettes...)

Thus was born the famous triplet dance and the famous festival instituted.

This is why on 16 Jan. 1350 St. Marcel became the patron saint of the city and the immolation of the ox identified with his worship.

Over time, a bishop of Fréjus horrified by this pagan sacrifice rite associated with a saint of Christendom tried to suppress the procession. The Revolution which did not see with a good eye this kind of manifestation also tried but in pure loss because the tradition was the strongest, and it is still so perennial... From January 16th to the morning, the tambourines and the fifres make their music hear through the streets... In the afternoon, the beef, all swabbed is driven into the village, escorted by the butchers... The clergy are there, who bless the weapons, the flag... and the ox.

At the hour of compliments, the crowd entered the college and then began the dance of the Tripettes. Even the priest is jumping!

On January 17th the solemn Mass is held, once again one dances and the bust of the saint is walked in the village. The poor man is dead! He was sacrificed the day before, he'll be smacked, slain. However, it is only sacrificed every four years and it is not the one that is being taken to the city of course. The meat consumed comes from a slaughterhouse where the animal was duly killed according to the hygiene rules in force.

One part is eaten roasted, another part is eaten at dawn...