Be STILT my heart!
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| Wearing a typical French Beret hat, white Coat of Sheep Skin with white fur, red shirt, blue pants and carrying a pole/staff, and walking on green ground. |
This set of 8 ENAMEL buttons came to me recently
from FRANCE. The buttons have an unusual pictorial, in that they feature a man
on STILTS. At first I wondered if it was depicting circus folk BUT the work
cap, clothing, bag and POLE told me that wasn’t going to be right. Of course, I
got curious and went FULL STILT in searching for answers for this odd pictorial,
first using the country I purchased them from (France) in the search terms.
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| Back view of the buttons |
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| Champlevé is an enameling technique in which depressions or cells in metal are carved, etched, die struck, or cast into the surface of a metal object, and filled with vitreous enamel. |
Normally, a button with a person on stilts would be
considered a form of a pastime/game/circus/sport. After you read this, you’ll see
why these buttons will be a great and odd representation of a form of FRENCH TRANSPORTATION
in my button collection!
In the mysterious case of this button set, the pictorial
recorded on them shows that the stilt was everyday wear for one group of people up to the early 20th Century… The people of LANDES, FRANCE and possibly
one famous Shepherd.
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| Illustration c. 1804. Note the dress is very similar to the enamel buttons! |
Stilts are poles, posts or pillars used to allow a
person or structure to stand at a height above the ground. Stilts for walking
are poles equipped with platforms for the feet to stand on and may have straps
to attach them to the users’ legs or be held in place when walking by the hands of the user
by gripping the top of the pole.
STILT HISTORY - Walking on stilts can be dated back to the 6th century BC in
ancient Greece. A Chinese folk legend from 722-481 BC tells of a foreign
ambassador called Yan Ying who was so short the officials of the kingdom he
visited laughed at him. He tied two stilts on his feet to make himself appear taller
than normal and then commanded respect. Some cultures were known
to use stilts to fish, hunt game birds in marshes or to harvest crops grown on trees.
LANDES, FRANCE - The French word, landes means moors or heaths. At
one time, walking on stilts was a necessary means of transportation to adapt to
the land which was covered with stunted bushes and dry heath. A heath is
a shrub land habitat found mainly on free-draining
infertile, acidic soils and is characterized by open, low-growing
woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths.
On account of the permeability of the subsoil, all the slopes were transformed
into marshes after the slightest rain fall.
The inhabitants of these marshy or flooded areas used stilts for practical purposes. According to the
Scientific American Supplement, No. 821, Sep. 26, 1891, this Southern area of
France was described as an extremely poor region inhabited mostly by Shepherds (called
a Berger in French) who relied on raising sheep. Mounted upon their stilts and
usually wearing a distinctive sheepskin vest of the region, the
shepherds of Landes drove their flocks across the wastes. They were easily able
to go through bushes, pools of water, and marshes as they were without roads or
footpaths. They walked on stilts everywhere! Apparently this system of
locomotion was so effective that men on stilts could keep up with horses at
full trot.
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| Typical dress of the Bergers of Landes |
The stilts are called echasses in French (or locally referred to
as tchangues, or “big or long legs”). They are constructed of wood and stand
about five feet high with wide straps to support the feet. The lowest part of
the stilt on the ground was widened and made sturdy with sheep’s bone, acting
like small hooves.
The height allowed Shepherds not only to travel the unstable
ground with and to watch over their flocks, but added an extended field of
vision to watch for predators. They would also carry a staff/pole for extra
support. The pole also aided in getting onto the stilts, acted as a way to
carry other items by tying a bundle to the pole (like shown on the button!), and
was used a crook or staff to guide their sheep.
The staff was also vital to provide
a comfortable seat which adapted to the height of the stilts. Resting in this
manner, the shepherd appeared to be sitting on a huge tripod.
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| Taking sitting and spinning to a new level. LOL! |
Shepherds weren’t the only ones to possess this skill. The men,
women, and children were all talented stilt-walkers and all were trained at a
young age to use them since this was the only way to travel the area. Most of the
people there lived a large portion of their lives at a lofty height. Some even
worked on knitting and performed other daily tasks while perched on them. These people
became proficient at performing amazing feats of balance and dexterity. Women,
for example, could pick flowers from the ground and children played, running at
high speeds. Mail service was accomplished on stilts and carriers even delivered
parcels on them.
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| Very special delivery! |
DRAINING THE SWAMP - In the late 19th century the introduction of drainage
systems and large forestry planting projects came to the region. The artificial
forest was built to drain the Landes (pine trees require 200 liters of water a
day) is almost entirely created and managed by man for industrial purposes. Stilt
walking and raising sheep started to die out with the land improvements. While
the people of this region no longer go around on stilts, it is amazing to know that at one time, there was
once a community where everyone was always elevated from the ground.
A FAMOUS FELLOW on the button?
It’s highly possible that this button could also be
depicting the famous SYLVAIN DORNON of Landes, who became famous when he climbed to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower on his stilts during the World Fair of
1889.
He also accomplished the amazing feat of walking on stilts from Paris to
Moscow. His goal was to attend the Franco-Prussian Exhibition of 1891, which
was held in Moscow. He arrived in just 58 days. He wanted the world to know
about the people of Landes and the decline of stilt walking due to the
disappearing lands.
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| Sylvain Dornon arriving in Moscow - 1891 |
I haven’t seen this button in a book (yet), so this I guess
I’ll just give it a name. For now, this button will be labeled on my card as THE
LANDES STILT WALKER/SYLVAIN DORNON or maybe I’ll just call it LIVING HIGH ON THE
BOG. LOL
Okay! I’ll stop... for now. *grin*
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<3 Enjoy your weekend! <3
aka FBR
#AntiqueButtons #EnamelButtons #Stilts #LandesFrance
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