Sunday, June 21, 2015

Midsummer in Brittany


Today it's Midsummer or Summer Solstice. The highlight of summer.


old Breton illustration of the "Feu de la St Jean"



On 24 June, "La nuit de la Saint Jean" as it is called here in France, isn't celebrated like it was in the old days. Except in some places like here in Brittany where it has remained a living tradition. And so it is that the Old cult of the Fire is still existent. Fire, for millennia was honoured as a source of universal life.



Old postcard, Tantad de St Jean du Doigt



In many Breton villages they still have the tradition of lighting a large bonfire around midsummer.
This fire is called "Tantad" in Breton. The firewood is collected one month in advance, it consists mainly of dried gorse (Ulex europaeus) which grows everywhere here in Brittany.



Picture taken a few years ago in St Jean du Doigt
just before lighting the fire




It used to go like this:
After the fire was lit, the villagers, all in festive attire, stand around the fire and began to perform all kinds of dancing and singing. Children were not allowed to participate and could only look at the fire through the windows of their houses, because it was mainly a celebration of adulthood, of love and fertility. When the fire had diminished, tough young men and brave young women jumped happily over the glowing embers. The older village women each took a piece of coal and threw it into the well to cleanse the water for the whole year to come. Towards the end, bystanders threw a small cobblestone in the cooling fire, this stone was called a "anaon" . And thus ended the party and everyone went to sleep. In the morning, the villagers went to see their "anaon" stone, because during the night the spirits came to turn over the stones of the people who would die in the following year! The cooled ash was then spread on the fields in order to promote the fertility of the soil.
Or at least that's how it used to be done. Now it is a popular festival linked to the still very strong Christian faith.



Tantad de St Jean du Doigt



Tantad de St Jean du Doigt




But "la fête de la St Jean" was not only about bonfires, it was also a good time to collect some medicinal herbs. The next day, the people who knew about these things, with bare feet, still groggy from the previous night and with a golden sickle in their hand went to pick the herbs. To ward off demons and to cure fevers. St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) of course, but also vervain (Verbena officinalis), the sacred plant of the Celts. It was picked while singing a mysterious song, a very old charm formula, called "Verven-Dieu" but nobody knows what it actually means anymore.





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Happy Summer Solstice

Thanks for visiting

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Friday, June 19, 2015

early summer harvests



Summer has finally started here in my little Breton home ! I'm still experimenting a lot with fermentation dyeing and right now I'm harvesting everything that could be useful.

Have a look...



The front garden, which is mainly a herb garden.
I work with a lot of herbs,
for medicine, beverages, incense, food
and of course dyes...




Broad-leaved Dock roots




Zen
or the art of harvesting willow bark




and apple tree bark




clockwise: barks from oak, apple tree, willow and plum tree




a few fibers waiting to be dyed




some fallen Eucalyptus leaves
water from the river, common sorrel, wood ash
fermented
dyed
sheep wool, alpaca and silk yarn, paper thread



Thanks for visiting

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Monday, June 01, 2015

The first shade of summer


birch, berk, bouleau, björkar, betula...

bezv (brezhoneg)




alpaca-silk & Poll Dorset - fermentation dyeing



actually it's not summer at all
in fact it's quite cold here in Brittany
so fermentation dyeing is starting very, very slowly

more sooner or later

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