The Passadoc Gazette - No 154

Hebdo 154

It's midnight!

... and all over the world, one can only hear a joyful cry: Happy New Year!

We kiss, we hug, we wish each other the best of happiness for every day to come, we smile, we sing, we drink! Anyway, it's joy!
Moments of joy which alas will not prevent worries, sorrows to occur... We'll have time to think about it when the time comes. For now, we're having fun!

This custom is very old, « is one of the oldest traditions in the world », say historians. Depending on the country, there are different uses. Thus:

In France, everywhere, we kiss under the guise... In Provence, we prefer holly!
In Spain, one grain of grapes is eaten at each of the twelve midnight strokes,
In Denmark, you climb on a seat to jump together on foot in the new year and you break plates against the doors of your friends: the more broken, the more friends you have!
In the Philippines, we wear dot clothes that ensure luck for all year round.

Ancient seam since:

Hundreds of years before Jesus Christ, the Romans already marked New Year in a way similar to ours, but in March. [...] It was a public holiday. People spent the day playing, eating and drinking.*
– 46 B.C.: Julius Caesar makes the 1^and January the official beginning of the year,
In the Middle Ages, new year and religious holidays are sometimes mixed.
Today, almost all countries chose January 1 to celebrate the New Year; Almost all, because in China, everything depends on the position of the moon ; in 2024, it will be February 10; Then begin the year of the Dragon that promises prosperity and abundance!

Whatever your beliefs are, PASSADOC wishes you a sweet spring, a rich summer, a radiant autumn and a happy winter!

Jeanne Monin

Research on several sites.
* Jean Scheid – Collège de France

Photos André Abbe

The Echoes of the Week
Walk in the forest
December 31st!
By Ubraye
The Pride Stone
The house of Roquebrune
Martel...
Passadoc
And then here are some flowers...

Walk in the forest

Finding truffles is exceptional. Cooking them in omelette in the forest is even rarer! Yet this is what André Abbe did in 1976!

This picture of my father is one of my favorite. He is here with Sabine Malherbe, the daughter of Provencal painter Henri Pertus. She is surrounded by her two sons, Eric (left) and Christophe (centre).
François Abbe

Giselle Penat-Lorde
From far away and good memories « truffles » Hotel-restaurant Jabron troin, a table in the Pays du Verdon (and/or Var Highland), well known at one time, whose owners, the Troin family, were old friends and relatives also of the family.

Especially when it was our uncle Max, a giant in the heart of gold, the brother-in-law, who had harvested it while hunting, often on his highlands of 04, and who cooked mushrooms ... a delicious Proust madeleine among so many others ...

A recipe passing, without truffles, but well Provençal, that of our « Aigo bulido« , good season right now...

« L-aigo bulido » is the delicious soup, dear to Provençals, and translates into « boiled water« . It is one of the oldest culinary tradition in Provence.

I think that many still have to know this traditional recipe well from home.

This soup was part of the « Big Christmas dinner » but today prepares the day after the feast for its digestive and dietary virtues.

Moreover, it is said: « Aigo boulido sauvo la vido »Hey! (boiled water saves life).

Each family has their own recipe. « daigo bulido ». I still cook it regularly winter.

Below: the recipe in Reboul – The Provencal cook – the most classic of the southern cookbooks recognizable by its famous yellow cover and Arlésienne.

We can also find her at « all sauces » and variations in many sites on the vast canvas ...

December 31st!

« The New Year's Eve of St. John's is the subject of often excessive scraps and libations, but we Europeans are small eaters compared to the Chinese able to surpass each other during the Chinese New Year. I'm only talking about the wealthy Chinese, of course.

On a visit to a temple in Taiwan in 1980, I was amazed by the abundance of gifts. Under an alignment of pigs were hundreds of bottles of beer, close to a carpet of sweetness.

I was wondering who would eat all this during the New Year's meal (which changes every date like Easter at home).

Good New Year's Eve!

André Abbe

By Ubraye

"For more than 50 years, I have been photographing the inscriptions in Provencal at the random of my travels. As the language loses its speakers « natural » (those who speak it with family), these inscriptions show the attachment that the people of the country have to it.

In 1985, I had photographed « Lou cantoun de Marie » in Ubraye, small village of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. I haven't been to Ubray since that day, I hope you cantun (the corner) is still there.

Mary is the first name in French adopted by the Provençals. According to the graphic of the chosen Provencal, it is Maria or Mario.

But in other languages, Mario is a man's first name. This can lead to misunderstandings...
André Abbe

The Stone of Orgueil!

André Abbe
The years ending in number 4 have been rich in events over the past centuries, with most often a connection to wars and battles, but not that...

In 1864, just 160 years ago, a meteorite fell on the commune of Orgueil (Tarn and Garonne), not far from Montauban.

When I went there years ago, I had naively thought that the imposing block of the monument was the meteorite in question.
Only nenni! The meteorite was much smaller in size (14 kg); Moreover, pieces had been distributed to the world's largest museums!

Happy New Year 2024! Hopefully the sky doesn't fall on our heads.

Claude Boyer
We don't know if she fell a year by four but she fell in our house! Look!

Jeanne Monin
According to the magazine Geo History*It was the only fear of the Gauls!
« The king asks them what they fear most, and he imagines that they will answer: « You, Alexander!«
But no, the Gauls explain that they fear no one, that they only fear that the sky will fall upon them.«

* without publicity.

The house of Roquebrune

Again: wonderful year 2024!

A healthy year... A year of travel if you want, abroad or in Occitanie... A visit to Provence!

« Save the Larzac » Says my shirt when I was three!

Speaking of children, 2024 is an anniversary for our family: Our village house in the centre of Roquebrune-sur-Argens (Var) was bought exactly 110 years ago!
My grandfather lost his father when he was six. His aunt therefore chose to protect him. She bought a house for the family.

Have you noticed these « dirt » (in the sky in particular) in the village photo?
It was that at the beginning, we manually scanned the images; Then we realized that to save 100,000 photos by 2030, we had to accelerate the pace.

Nowadays, an industrial partner digitizes thousands of photos at a time. We have 87,000 left!

A reminder: Passadoc is intended to highlight the heritage, history and traditions of the whole South of France through exclusive archival documents. The association contributes to the conservation, transmission and enhancement of holdings of documents at risk, visual and sound.

If you have photos, stories, memories, images to send us: romenzo2010@gmail.com.

François Abbe

Martel

Often broadcast on television at the end of the year, « The Lion in winter » recalls the complicated history of England and Aquitaine in the Middle Ages.

In this film, Peter O

Anthony Hopkins plays a Richard not yet Lion Heart, frankly unpathetic. But as you know, I have a weakness for him: he is a troubadour.

Close to them, we meet other stars: Jean sans Terre, Geoffroy de Bretagne, Philippe Auguste; However, one essential character, Henri Court Mantel, the young king, Richard's older brother, was missing.

In 1990, I went to Martel in the Lot in front of the house where the young king died in 1183.

If Aquitaine had remained English, today we would have to have a passport to go to Bordeaux because of Brexit.

André Abbe

And then here are some flowers...

These are cited in The Gazette :
André Abbe
François
Claude Boyer
Jeanne Monin
Giselle Penat-Lorde
Editor in Chief
Jeanne Monin