Passadoc Gazette - N° 153

The Hebdo 153

And if we get up...

... thanks to the stilts? They've been around the world for a long time! They are found in Asia, India, South America, Africa, Russia...

In Greece, on jars dating from the sixth century B.C., are represented men using stilts.
In ancient Rome, men « shoes » during theatrical performances.
In Sri Lanka, they are used by fishermen... in Morocco or California, by fruit pickers.
In Togo, we talk about almost dizzying, 5-6 meters high, which leaves some historians skeptical that it is not uncommon to see men evolve on stilts of 2 to 4 meters during festive demonstrations, which is already quite exceptional.
In Belgium, the Namurese scavengers fight in battle (1411)... fighting that William II of Namur will hardly appreciate: he will forbid the practice of scoundrels to anyone over the age of 13 years under penalty of a fine and the confiscation of scoundrels.
In France, they appear on engravings from the Middle Ages.
Louis XV entertained himself by watching perched men, fighting in teams, pushing his elbow and shoulder to unbalance himself.

– Where are our stilts?

Patience... here they are...

They are mainly Landes. It must be said that on this side of Occitanie, about the seventeenth – eighteenth centuries, the land is wet, marshy, unfertile, only sheep and goats find it pittance. The stilts allow the shepherd – which is 1 m taller at 1.50 m – to monitor his flock, to spot the wolf so that he does not approach too close to the animals, and above all to locate the muddy areas so as not to venture there. The population considers him a little sorcerer...

The geographer Louis Papy* Makes his portrait: The Grande Lande pastre is specialized in sheep rearing. A landlord hired him for a year. He is responsible for feeding and treating his flock. His reward will consist of some money, a few bushels of rye and millet, a few hundred sardines, salt, a fleece.

Gradually, the drainage of the soil, the plantation of sea pines – prompted by Napoleon III in 1857 – will sanitize the Landes.

The shepherd on his stilts will have lived less than a century. Nevertheless, it has marked the culture of the Landes, perhaps thanks to the originality of its appearance. Today it is part of folklore and as such still present in parades, village festivals.

Jeanne Monin

Research on several sites.
* Text published in the Geographical review of the Pyrenees and South-West.

André Abbe
The last time I saw the Landes on their stilts was in 2005 in Carcassonne, on the occasion of a major event to promote the Occitan language in education, in the media.

I confess that I do not know whether the Dutch shepherds still use the stilts to keep their flock.

I've seen scavengers in Southeast Asia, more often in the holidays than in the fields. Like the Chinese New Year in Singapore in 1983."

François Abbe
What do we read on the flag? A translator's friend replied: " Overall it starts on November 22 and ends on December 7. It's part of the 21 Jiechi of the lunar calendar. "

Claude Boyer
In Mali, I saw Dogons on stilts.

The Dogon Country extends from the cliff of Bandia-gara to the southwest of the Niger loop.

Maryse Laugier
Well, I tried a long time ago. Get on stilts! I let you imagine...

The Echoes of the Week
The shepherdess
On 21 December
25 December
Quiz!
Passadoc
Women of Provence

The shepherdess

The dawn of 21 December

On the night of December 21-22, the winter solstice takes place at 4:27 a.m. to be precise. From year to year, the hour and even the day of solstice change. On the other hand, the sun always sets in the same place.

And from home, he hides behind the Rock of Roquebrune. Show that delights me every year, when time permits. In 2023, there was a mist veil above the tops.

YearDr. Abbe

Claude Boyer
And the days will start to lengthen because In Sainte-Luce, the days grow from the jump of a chip.

Why is this saying that everyone knows when Saint Lucia (or Luce) celebrates December 13th? It is that once days began to lengthen on that date; This is why this day had been attributed to this saint, for Lucie = Lux = light.

It is said that the year counts 365 days, but in truth the ephemerides are more precise and the solar year actually consists: 365 days and 6 hours minus 11 minutes.

When the Julian calendar was drawn up under Julius Caesar, it was neglected to take into account these 11 minutes which over time ended up representing 10 days towards the end of the 16th century.

This was then a problem in the ordinance of ecclesiastical offices and over time it would have ended up celebrating Christmas in July and Easter in November.

Pope Gregory XIII ordered that the calculations be recalculated so that the religious events would resume their place in the year, and thus the year 1582 was amputated by ten days and passed directly from 5 to 15 October.

However, these 11 minutes still existed and with this update alone, the problem would arise over time.

Then we invented the leap year that every four years puts us back on track, so the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julien calendar.

So the proverb, which is false now, was true once.

But no matter how apothecary, only Mother Nature is the master of the time that passes and we poor humans can only suffer the consequences.

For as Peter Corneille wrote in his poem Stances in Marquise:

Marquise, if my face
A few old traits,
Remember that at my age
You won't be much better.

Time for the most beautiful things
Please make an affront,
And will fade your roses
How he wrinkled my forehead.

The same course of planets
Rules our days and nights:
They saw what you are;
You'll be who I am.

Tristan Bernard (1866-1947) will not be any further! Humorist, facetious, he adds this quatrain:

Maybe I'll be old,
Answer Marquise, however
I'm twenty-six, old Cornelius,
And fuck me in the meantime.

A few years later, in 1962, for our greatest pleasure, the malicious Georges Brassens will put all this into music! Listen...

Thanks.
Pierre Blanc
Guy Bouyer
Marie Dominique Germain
Maryse Laugier
Elise Savine
Cyril R. Vergnaud
for their good wishes to Passadoc!

Thanks. Claude Boyer and Giselle Penat-Lorde who also spoke:

Buon nouve a tutti tamben and vespre question oblidan not ...
Cacho fio, toto fio
Algebra, Algebra Dièu alegre us
Calèndo vèn, every ven ben
We're being given the grace to be sure that we're ready.
And nanny sian not May, that nanny rungue not lie

Christmas log, give fire
Let us rejoice
God gives us joy, everything comes well
God gives us the grace to see the coming year.
And that, if we are no more, we are no less.