Mrs. Laugier in front of her farm (1991)

We Varois do not have the « fe di biou » (the faith of the bulls, which in French does not mean much) ... and yet the ox was very present in the life of our rural world. The ox was an idiot in the same way as the horse and the mule. The centre of beef rearing was the village of Cuebris (Alpes Maritimes) near Roquesteron. In the wetlands, the horses became dusty (lung malady) and the oxen, the example of Cogolin, near Saint-Tropez... at the time of Brigitte Bardot's arrival, the last ox plowed the vineyards of Cogolin. I had the chance to film for the show. « Vaqui » the last day of work of the last pair of ploughing oxen from Provence, at Monsieur Laugier in Fayence. Moment of great emotion. The bouvier had three oxen, the left-hander, the right-handeder and the replacement. The left-handed could not work to the right and vice versa. The replacement was raised to work on both sides.

A rapprochement can be made with the first lines of rugby. Left pillars can rarely play right... Let rugby lovers not offend rapprochement. Be careful, I'm not saying that there are no more pairs of oxen in Provence. We take them out for the holidays. I saw one at the Petit Saint Jean parade in Valréas (Vaucluse). But don't rely on them to plow your vines. I am in favour of their existence. They give young generations a better understanding of our past...