04 July 2010

Fête Médiévale Saint Denis de Jouhet: Fête Dionysienne

My mother-in-law drove us to Saint Denis de Jouhet, a small village a couple of kilometres from La Châtre, where they - among other things - arrange a Medieval Festival.
This started only two years ago if I remember correctly and it's a feast for both adults and children.
The aim with this medieval festival is not only to amuse the visitors but also to educate them/us concerning the way people lived and died during the medieval era.
This is done partly by displaying the food one ate and how it was made, the clothes one wore, the armures and weapons one used etc etc.

Below some photos from the festival.

This is the welcome sign displaying wild boars.
Not only Asterix and Obelix are fond of them.

With this horse coach the visitors were given
the chance to see the surroundings...

























...and as you can see this is the starting and
resting point for the horse.

The smoke from the 'kitchen' where the food is prepared:
In the photos below you can see one of three fauns with his 'keeper' and there were quite a few children, frightened by him and take a look at his face, he is a bit scary, is'nt he?
























As a contrast we met two friendlier fauns too.

And below we see Saint George still in battle with the Dragon:

In the below photo we see examples of catapults used in war and they were demonstrated.

This is something I think one call execution
block in English but often it was used to
show criminals and to give people the chance
to scorn them.
























More weapons and this time the heaviest piece
of canon displayed and it made an impressing
sound when charged and fired.


This man is making armors as you can see and he
also displayed the weapons used in battle.

A man making music instruments and also playing them of course:

These two pictures display women's clothings at the time.
To the right a vest and 'shorts' made of leather:

























Drinking is essential, not least a hot day as this
and below we see one of Aurore's colleagues
Noëmi, also involved in the work at the Festival.


The photo below display 'Le Capitaine' - 'The Captain',
the one responsible for the demonstration of
the weapons and who also lead us in the 'war' against the British.


Here he demonstrates a sling and how this
weapon should be used and what damage
it could cause.
























"Merci pour votre attention Mesdames et Messieurs!"

We were also given the possibility to become
'Robin Hood's' for a day and we were taught
this task by professional 'outlaws'.

























Noëmi is aming and succeeded in shooting
right in bull's eye.


Of course I had to try this although I've never
shot with a bow as far as I can remember.
Aurore was afraid that I were going to kill someone.
What happened?
I shot six arrows and all hit the target,
one almost touching the balloon in the middle
and another 'hitting and killing it'.
Not bad for a beginner.
Aurore looked at me in a very surprised way
happy to see that her Swedish Viking had these
qualities, avoiding to kill or hurt someone.


Below the 'teacher' collects the arrows
and establish the fact that I hit the bull's eye
and that the balloon was killed in battle.


Finally I also fought with the French against
the British (the rearmost row):

This is not me (Gunnar), below:

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