Passadoc Gazette - No 198

Hebdo No 198

Ding... Ding... Dong!

– And why the carillon?
– Because – as our gazette says – we are on the first of November, the holiday, and the bells ring! Listen. !

– Do you know that in Neolithic we could hear the bells?
– Are you sure about that?
– In any case, historians say: from the moment man mastered the fire, he was able to harden the clay and realized various objects which, struck, gave a sound.
- Ah! If historians say so!
– Don't be so suspicious... I believe them when they write that we find in Asia traces of bells dating back 4,000 years.
- Pristi! What a leap in time! But here I also believe them.
– Suddenly... Like this! Why not?
– Because we're in the bronze age!
– You're not serious... Let us return to the 1st November: in 610, Pope Boniface IV decides that all the saints will be honored every 13 May. A large century later, Gregory III preferred November 1st and imposed this feast on the world. 1789: The French Revolution abolished this day, which was restored by Napoleon (1802).
In the 20th century, November 1st is part of the 11 holidays « listed in the French Labour Code ». Many – believers or atheists – take advantage of this day to flower the graves of the loved ones who have disappeared, mixing the feast of all the saints at the feast of all the dead. And the Cemeteries look like flower fields! On all the tombs bloom cyclamen, heather and especially chrysanthemum, the Marguerite of the dead, as Brassens writes.
– I love the poetry and humor of this man!
– You're not alone! It's not that I'm bored with you, on the contrary... But time passes and there is already November 2, the day of the dead... Maybe we can hear the gla...

Jeanne Monin

Research on several sites.

The Echoes of the Week
Quiz of the week!
Gérard Lattier
Green olive, black olive
The two Jeannes
Passadoc

Quiz of the week!

Gérard Lattier

André Abbe
I found my friend Gérard Lattier at his home in Poulx (Gard), always good foot good eye, always in the middle of work.

He prepared the exhibition of his paintings with the subject « The Gospel », in Linkenheim (Germany), not very far from Strasbourg. It will take place from October 20 to April 6, 2025, at the temple of the city. At this very moment – and until March 2025 – Lattier also exhibited paintings representing the department of Ardèche at the castle of Aubenas (Ardèche).

I am glad that Lattier's talent as a painter and storyteller is recognized in his lifetime.

His work is in every way original. You will soon have three places to see it.

Claude Boyer
Libertaire, anarchist. During the Algerian war, he simulated madness to escape service and was interned in a psychiatric hospital. A great admirer of Georges Brassens to whom he has dedicated works, Gérard Lattier paints a naïve art where the characters of Dubout mix with the bright colours of customs Rousseau.

Jean-Philippe Tinois
There are so many messages in this web.

Green olive, black olive

– How do I know if the olive tree I planted will produce green olives or black olives?

To this question, Bernard Molinier replied with a smile:
– If you plant the olive tree facing south it will give black olives, if facing north it will be green! It's the same for oranges!

Monique Marcellino
The green olives are harvested from 6October and the blacks are usually after a few days of frost that makes them become black.
Greens are on Pichouline olive trees preferably, blacks on Nyons and other special qualities for black olives mainly used to make oil.

Denise Linsolas
– I thought you needed the gel for the blacks...

Jean-Philippe Tinois
– Pa) necessary: they mature black without freezing; But with frost, I think they become more pasty like cynorrhodons.
After you apply the method of industrialists to have black olives but firm as green, you have to make them undergo a chemical treatment in my mind totally inept but people buy. It tastes disgusting, stuffed with products, but it has a beautiful green olive shape that has become black!
It goes in the movement of « It's not good, but it looks good.« . It's like strawberries, tomatoes etc.

The two Jeannes

AEdré Abbe
Do you know the two Queen Jeannes?

They gave their names to places in Provence:

– There is the castle of Queen Jeanne in Guillaume in the Alpes Maritimes.

– And the Queen Jeanne Bridge in Entrepierres in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. There is also Queen Jeanne's tower, destroyed after the 1909 earthquake (Salon-de-Provence in the Bouches-du-Rhône).

But by the way, who are these two queens?

– Jeanne I (the Queen of Naples) remained in Provence until 1648.

– The second, Jeanne de Laval, stayed longer: 11 years in total.

In Bearn, the expression "as old as Queen Jeanne”.

Claude Boyer
Queen Jeanne is « Heroin » a very horrible legend.

She was the little daughter of Robert d'Anjou, first of the name, Queen of Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily, Duchess of Puglia, Princess of Capua, Countess of Provence, Nice and Piedmont.

It is said, that retreating to Rocca Sparviera castle, (the rock of the squirrels) whose walls dominated the Pass Saint-Roch, the Queen, very pious wanted to attend the Christmas Mass and descended to Coaraze by a path through the rocks.

On the way, he heard a disturbing prediction:

– The regina from the messa, trouverà taula messa.
[The Queen on returning from Mass, will find table set].

The queen, obsessed with prophecy, rushed out of the office, to the great emotion of the faithful.

Taking advantage of his absence, his enemies seized his children, killed them to roast them, and made a dish of them...

The appetite sharpened by tiredness and cold, she saccomomoda very well, on her return, of the meal prepared... And ate his own children.

But, learning who she had just eaten, she ran away like a madman and went down to Coaraze screaming at a curse against the cursed place where such an execrable package had just been accomplished:

– O ròca, ròca marida, a jorn sell that above liti ty cimas canterà plu neither gal nor galina, mas soles lu esparviers e other acèus sarvatgiers !
[A bad roche, a day will come when on your tops, no more roosters and chickens will sing, but only squirrels and other wild birds!]

Well, that's the legend. The truth forces Jeanne not to have children of her first three husbands and never came to the valley...

The curse remains...
Initially affected by an epidemic, Rocca Sparviéra gradually died, was destroyed by an earthquake in the 19th century and then deserted by its inhabitants...

And stay the hawks...

Amazing, isn't it?

« If not e vero, e ben trovato ».

Giselle Penat-Lorde
Not to mention the famous lady-jeanne, this large bottle, of fairly large volume, which we all certainly had one day in our cellars and then in decoration, glass bottle with a very rounded shape and a fairly short neck.

She should also name our Queen Jeanne.

Our famous lady-jeanne, object « wind », the vintage asset of our interiors, which everyone has been tearing away for a few years from the brocanters and/or the decorating shops, knows two versions of its creation and its origin. The only thing left is to choose the one that inspires the most from the legend or the historical narrative!

It seems that Queen Jeanne of Naples would have given part of her name to this blown glass bottle.

After being expelled from her town in the 14th century, she would have fled to Provence. During a storm, she would have taken refuge as close as possible in the house of a glass craftsman. She asked her to practice her art in front of her. He, intimidated by his beauty, blew too hard and made a bottle of nearly 10 liters, much bigger than usual and of spherical shape.

Thus he created the one to whom the queen wanted to give a name more modest than her own title, and of « Queen « She became « Lady-jeanne ».

This is the probably real story of this voluptuous object!

Originally called dāmghān, it is the Persian glass craftsmen who designed this very popular bonbon. Ideally located on the Silk Road, they would have distributed this content and its goods throughout Europe.

His name would have changed as he passed through these countries. Thus in Catalonia it would have taken the name of damajana, in North Africa damacana, or damajuana in Spanish...

The lady-jeanne was used to transport brandy or wine, oil or vinegar. The large volume of this bottle was particularly suitable for these liquid products (a cork stopper made them hermetic and they were covered with braided wickers with handles to transport and protect them).

Clin d'oeil to my lady-jeanne, of a very advanced age, who sits near a window with some beautiful foliage of autumn, not far from me. She survived a lot of adventures, the German occupation during World War II, and a few moves.

Photographer André Abbe... photographed François Abbe in front of a computer as old as Queen Jeanne!

Georges Brassens

The Jeanne, the JeanneShe's poor and her table is often badly servedBut the little that is found in it sleeps for lifeBy the way she gives itHer bread looks like cake.And his water with wine like two drops of water

Gilbert Bécaud

The ladies who cameSeeing our uncle after dinnerThey were called Aunt Jeanne.It was never the sameBut we still loved them.We loved our aunts Jeanne

Two songs by Giselle Penat-Lorde.

Cited in The Gazette : André Abbe – Claude Boyer – Alain Cathala – Denise Linsolas – Monique Marcellino – Jeanne Monin – Giselle Penat-Lorde – Jean-Philippe Tinois.

Editor in Chief Jeanne Monin.