Passadoc Gazette - No 187

The Hebdo 187

We're flying!

The helicopter goes back and forth to transport the salt needed by the sheep on the pastures. In the past, this work was entrusted to donkeys, says André Abbe. Farmers are sometimes criticized for being hard on animals: they have released the donkeys from heavy burdens.
I took this photo about twenty years ago in the town of Thorame basse (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence).

But how long has this extraordinary aircraft been in existence?

Not to mention Leonardo da Vinci, who drew a « machine » whose rotor would be powered by energy would be human muscle.

Big leap in time!...

1907. Louis Breguet (1880-1955), built the first quadrirotor of history. On August 24, the first flight was 50 cm high and a few hours later, in the factory yard, the aircraft was 1.50 m.
Between 1922 and 1925, Émile Berliner (1851-1929) experimented with experimental helicopters.
Igor Sikorsky (American – 1889-1972) will leave his name in the history of aeronautics.

Of course, every year, research and technology will progress. Today, the helicopter is part of our life: it ensures the rescue of the wounded, the transport of the sick... various materials and materials... Military... and the salt transports that make his freedom to Cocotte, the star of Passadoc!

Jeanne Monin

Research on several sites.

The Echoes of the Week
Squirrel and almond
80 years ago...
Roquebrune's private cafes
Passadoc
August 23rd!

Squirrel and almond

I recently complained about squirrels eating my almonds: they took everything from me! There's no more one left on my trees or on the floor.
I've spotted three of them, but they must be more numerous. Maybe the one in the picture is the father... or the mother; There are also two smaller ones,
One has a darker coat, the other has a white belly.
The show is over. It lasted more than a month because the squirrels attacked the almonds (green almonds). André Abbe

[…]

Ah! I see you, my boy..

He may be two or three metres away, camped in a dog on his buttocks, his tufted tail standing on his head.

It's a squirrel of the year, a little squirrel boy, mischievous, clever and kind. I read all this in his plums, while he looks at me or rather looks at me, his head lifted, turned aside, his sharp black eye fixed on me...

[…]

Sitting, well installed, the tail in a parasol, it nibbled at all speed: the nut melted in a blink of an eye. But only projections, what a waste, apparently at least! The crumbs were flying from all sides, he only wanted white flesh, the rest was... postilloned, cheerfully, vigorously. He was very poor. He was eating, why not say it? Like a lovely little pig.

Mauritius Geneva – Adventure roads (Plon 1959).

Giselle Penat-Lorde
I greatly appreciate the writing of Genevoix, which is a very attentive, very subtle, very deep observer of the life of fields and forests.

In recent weeks I have reviewed some chapters of Those of 14, already read and reread in the past... Even in this war diary, devoted mainly to World War I, his descriptive style, exemplary, can be without damage compared to Colette's.
A wood, a field, a village, everything takes on another dimension with Maurice Genevoix...

80 years ago...

The 80th anniversary of the liberation of Sainte-Maxime...

André Abbe says:

At the liberation parades – the Muy in 2017, in Sainte-Maxime in 2024 – a superb 202 Peugeot passed before me in very good condition.
What is considered today as a collector car, was during my early childhood, chic chic, even with the Front Traction.
I was proud to go on Sunday in 202 of my sister's fiancé's father, my parents didn't have a car yet.

Roquebrune's private cafes

André Abbe
Does anyone among the Passadocians know why they call « circle » (ceuch), private cafes in Provence?

We had in Roquebrune, the Circle of Whites, the Circle of Reds and the Circle of Immigrants. We were talking about politics. Women were not allowed.

Giselle Penat-Lorde
I think, but am not 100% sure, that this appellation of circles for coffees in Provence is a legacy of the Revolution.

A lot of « circles » exist for more than a hundred years: workers' circle, opinion circles, Republicans or royalists, « red » or « White ». Under the Third Republic, in these salons « We were talking about politics. »in a room reserved for these meetings. Some later became playrooms and then simple cafes.

Every neighborhood, every corporation actually had « its circle ». They were community circles.

It is said that there were up to twelve associations in some cities, three hundred institutions for the Var department alone.

The circle is the perfect geometric figure, symbolizing the finite and infinite, unity and multiple; that's why it was chosen, like the English word « club », to designate a group united in the same project. While the practice of gathering in clubs was attested in England in 1702, it became usual in France only in 1774, on the eve of the Revolution.

In some regions these circles were moreover « very bourgeois ». I think it was a bit the same in Provence in cities like Aix-en-Provence, Marseille, Avignon... We were talking about politics, we were doing it again, and, first of all, we were there. « between yourself ». It was « a closed circle », like those that were subsequently created in a more democratic ideal.

Under the Third Republic, a period marked by a large number of social reforms, the « more open circles »; They are also related to Masonic ideology. The Masonic lodges in Provence were integrated into a multiplicity of cultural networks structuring the public space of bourgeois society of the Second Empire: intellectual societies, philanthropic societies, political clubs, labour societies, regional leagues, cafés-circles.

Their names also bear witness to all these movements: « Circle of the Union, Republican Circle, Circle of Democrats, Circle of Citizens, Circle of Workers, Circle of Workers, Circle of Concord, Circle of Peace, Circle of Fraternity or Circle of the Future ».

In fact, the Associations Act of 1901 makes it possible to formalize their statutes. Their stated aim is to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood that unite their members, and to offer them economic services, through cooperation.

It seems to me, but no certainty again, that there is still « circles », those of Gordes, Saint-Maximin, Rognes, Ramatuelle or Vauvenargues, always very active.

[For more information, this page.]

Cyril R. Vergnaud
It seems that this goes back to royalty: « circle » is said to be an assembly which is done at the Queen's house, where the Ladies stand round her, where the Duchess have the privilege of sitting on a stool.
This room is the place where the Queen holds her circle.

Elise Savine
These circles also existed in Cotignac, red and white as was the case for both cooperatives at the time.

« Circle »... the word creates debate!

Jean-Philippe Tinois
I am not friends with the circle, I admire it but I fear it; My poor rational mind is not able to grasp a finite structure whose perimeter is calculated, then the surface, then the volume with Pi which is an infinite suite, I had already felt this impression when I asked myself the question of what is contained in the universe... The insomnia came after, I think!

Jeanne Monin
Note by a teacher. Math. That reads under my shoulder: « Why stay in the plan while we live in space? According to Greek philosophers, the most perfect geometric form is not the circle but the sphere.
Pi is an irrational number indeed! But it's a number, a real number! Its exact value is Pi (the infinite suite is an approximate value in decimal writing). So we know the exact value of the circumference of a circle or the sphere of a disk« .

Eric Dussart
Symbolically, as a geometric figure, the circle represents both unity and multiple, the whole (finished and infinite). As a result, it symbolizes harmony, absolute, fullness. And since it has neither beginning nor end, it also symbolizes the notions of cycle and renewal.

More prosaically, it is a good idea to gather around a table without establishing a hierarchy between sitting people.

In 2016, the intermunicipal network « Country of Art and History of Green Provence » published an excellent brochure on the Republican heritage present in its territory (39 municipalities in the north-west of Var). The first part of the brochure is devoted to town halls, schools, campaniles, monuments to the dead, washrooms, public baths, houses of the people, municipal homes, wine cooperatives and circles. The second part (from page 102 to page 157) goes back to the issue of circles by studying them in more detail and by accurately identifying them.

Link to download the entire brochure.
To learn more about the circles that existed throughout the entire Provencal area, read the very interesting article that Pierre Chabert published in 2005 in the magazine French ethnology.
See also the 284-page book that this Marseille writer, teacher and university, published in 2006: The Circles, a sociability in Provence, Coll. Contemporary world (Publications of the University of Provence). References.

Party in Vietnam – 2007 [Photo André Abbe]

August 23rd!

Intimate Provence: an event not to be missed!

Patrons and lovers of Provence:
Between culture, agriculture and travel, be among the 100 privileged
to experience a unique experience on August 23, 2024!

You will be in the heart of an exclusive evening, a glass of rosé with
surrounded by decision makers and enthusiasts who share your vision.
In front of you will reveal a background of new photos: the history of the
Provence and the intimate moments of the daily lives of rural populations;
Provençals at work and in celebration; picturesque landscapes; on
cultural traditions in Provence and around the world. A selection
moments seized by André Abbe, son of the country, journalist –
photographer – farmer.

Show: Passadoc invited 4 international artists from Dubai, London, Marseille and Montpellier.

To know everything … Tickets (free reservation required)

Cited in The Gazette : André Abbe – François Abbe – Éric Dussart – Jeanne Monin – Giselle Penat-Lorde – Élise Savine – Jean-Philippe Tinois – Cyril R Vergnaud.
Editor in Chief : Jeanne Monin.