Passadoc Gazette - No 160

The weekly 160

The market...

It has existed since the dawn of time...

Originally, it is more barter than a real exchange of products for coins (which are still to be invented); Over time, markets have become as they are known today: in the countryside, in villages, stalls offer cheeses, butter, live or prepared poultry, vegetables, fruit; in cities, to all this, add fabrics, laces, ribbons... sewn leather besacks and braided wicker baskets...

Most of the time, it is weekly and it is a place of meetings, exchanges... And gossip!

– PJean, the son of the Seguins, is going to marry little Sylvette.
- No! Are you sure? They're so young! And the parents agree?
– Okay or not, there's an emergency... It was said that the lovebirds had celebrated Easter before the Palms* Hey!

Further on, it's Father Martin we're strutting!
– That old bitch! He sells more wine than he produces his vineyard!

And it's sloppy, and it's persistent, and it's meditating and slandering! From time to time, we are delighted because a boy from the village has gone up to the capital and today he is a doctor... It is the whole village that is honored by this beautiful success!
We're also worried about the sound of boots, the sounds of war coming from the east...

But now the church bell tower is ringing at noon... Merchants pack up... The place is empty...

Photography of markets once because nowadays everything is regulated, asepticated; the stalls are refrigerated, the vegetables and fruits removed from all traces of dust, the fish patient on the ice,... And the news we're commenting on is the news we hear on TV!

– What about our deal? Where is he?

Patience... There he is!

Jeanne Monin

*Celebrate Easter before the branches - so strong that a pregnancy is announced before marriage.

Draguignan... 1970 – photo A. Abbe

Andre and François come back
on the market square – photo M. Quiniou

Draguignan... 2024 – photo M. Quiniou

André Abbe
We returned to this market more than 50 years later. A pleasant moment in this place in Draguignan. But what is the story of the original photo?

In the 1970s, I had photographed the Draguignan market very early, at its very beginning.
My son asked, looking at the picture:
– What were you doing so early in Draguignan, 22 kilometers from home?
I couldn't answer. Later, the question was asked again and I remembered there.

I spent the night with the gamekeepers. When I left them, I went for a walk to the market. I explain:

– Four hunters were on a hunger strike. They protested a court decision. They occupied a local in Draguignan. They were there day and night.
I belonged to a group that supported the struggle of these friendly guards.
Each in turn, one of us spent the night with them, to testify in case someone wanted to dislodge them.
A hunting guard had denounced a colleague who was poaching. The administration had transferred. The story had made a noise as evidenced by an article in the newspaper The World 1973, date of photo.
We had participated in a demonstration in which we shouted « Justice for babysitting ». We had to articulate, « this » and « a/ »...

If one of the guards reads these lines, let me know how their hunger strike ended.
I had made several photos of this market, there is one left.

The Echoes of the Week
Transhumance
Testimony of the passing of time
Um... The smell of garlic!
14 February Valentine's Day
The donkeys of Mont Mounier

Transhumance

Transhumance... What is it?

It is the ascent (or descent) of the mountain with the sheep when the grass misses closer to the Mediterranean coasts.

The shepherdess who leads the flock is Martine Baron, called Titon.

This is the last page of the free photo « Women of Provence ».

Testimony of the passing of time

Do you ever do the same picture years later?

Jeanne Monin
Photo point, but look at regions, streets, squares... that if they do not change appearance – like the Abbe house – change names...

So around 1790, Revolution obliges, « ... Mont Saint-Michel became Mont-Libre; the Rue des Nobles, Marseille, rue de l'Egalité; Louis XV Square in Paris, the Place de la Révolution and so on. They also eliminated the standard names « Basque country », « Bearn », « Quercy » or « Artisans », reminding them too much of the monarchical provinces. Place aux départements affublés de noms de rivers (Ain, Dordogne...) ou de montagnes (Puy-de-Dôme, Hautes-Pyrénées)... »

I'll let you discover... But I can't resist the happiness of copying here the conclusion of Michael Feltin-Palas who quotes Alphonse Allais:
– The English are strange people who give their streets names of defeat, like Trafalgar and Waterloo.« .

[Source: Michel Feltin-Palas]

Um... the garlic perfume!

André Abbe

“Reviewing for the twelfth time « So much the wind » On TV, I was thinking of a crisp story. Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable who embody the heroes of the film hated each other. Before kissing Vivien on the mouth, Clark ate garlic. It was mean and rather stupid.

In Provence, you don't make bad jokes with garlic, you brush your teeth before kissing!

I add that in Provencal, the garlic is called alhet (aiet). In my village, alhet is also the name of the Isaioli, while « ae » delivered « ai » That's the donkey.

Elsewhere in Provence, donkey is « ,ase » While in my house, the ass is the grape grain. Elsewhere, the grape grain is « Age ».

I feel like I'm gonna confuse you. I had left poor Vivien Leigh to pronounce « li » who received garlic kisses."

February 14th... Valentine's Day

"Good Valentine's Day !"... The party of people who love each other.

Amer, Aragon claims that there is no happy love while Brassens – a so-called bear when it's only tender – tells his loves so delicately...

To say "I love you", it only took three small lights to Prevert...

Three matches one by one lit in the night

The first to see your whole face

The second to see your eyes

Last one to see your mouth

And the whole darkness to remind me of all this

By shaking you in my arms

As many love stories as there are writers, musicians, poets around the world... It would take so long to quote them all! So let's just listen to one...

The donkeys of Mont Mounier

We like to follow the shepherds in transhumance. Sheep have to climb into the mountains when grass is rarer, then come down closer to the sea as winter approaches. Classic.

That year, shepherd Bernard Bellini took several donkeys with them.

Claude Boyer
If you're not a drunk first, you're an ae...

Next meeting

Passadoc, it's an association, members,
readers and multiple authors.
Régine is preparing something... We'll tell you more soon!

Are cited in The Gazette :
André Abbe
Claude Boyer
Jeanne Monin
Editor in Chief
Jeanne Monin