BZH!
Brittany, Breizh, La Bretagne...
Call it what you like, there's no denying this region
is unique!
Gwenn Ha Du - The Breton
flag
.In 1188 the armies of the crusades
were given distinctive colours according to their
nationalities in agreement with the pope. Brittany, then a
country, was given a black cross on a white background. From
this date on this flag became the official flag of the
Breton navy and the Breton armies and remained so until 1316
when Duke Jean III replaced it with a plain 'hermine'
In 1923, Morvan Marchal, an architecture student,
proposed a more modern Breton flag, the Gwenn ha Du (White
and Black) composed of 9 alternate black and white bands (5
representing the dioceses of lower Brittany and 4
representing those of upper Brittany) with a square of
"hermines". This is the one which you can still see today
flying above public buildings in Brittany
L'hermine , the emblem of
the Dukes of Brittany...
"L'Hermine" or white stoat
L'hermine, The symbol of the Dukes of Brittany...
The ermine has been the emblem of the Dukes for many
centuries.The Breton hermine stood alongside the fleur de
Lys under Anne de Bretagne's reign and has un unfounded
legend relating its birth. For all time, the Bretons have
used legends to explain such or such an invention,
apparition, or event. The same goes for the way the creation
of the ermine and the motto of the Ducs de Bretagne :
"Plutôt la mort que la souillure ", "To die rather than
dirty oneself" (in bas-breton : kentoc'h mervel evet bezañ
saotret - in Latin : Potius mori quam foedari).
One story tells how it all took place under Anne de
Bretagne's reign
One day while the duchess was walking in her countryside to
meet her people, she bore witness to a scene of men chasing
a white stoat or ''hermine''. As they came to the edge of a
muddy lake, the little creature who had been cornered by his
hunters decided to face up to them rather than dirty his
naturally white coat by crossing the stinking lake. Seeing
this scene, the legend goes that the Anne obtained the
little animal's freedom and made it her emblem.
If the legend explains in such a nice way how this happened,
the reality is a little less romantic as the appearance of
the ermine on Breton armour was started by Pierre de Dreux,
a.k.a. de Mauclerc around the 13th century.
Le Triskell - The triskell
The ancient Celts used a large number
of specific decorative motifs to affirm their particularity,
for example the sun, spirals, interlaced designs, the celtic
cross, etc... But the interceltic symbol par excellence, is
the Triskell (from the Greek tiskèles : meaning with three
legs). Basically it's made up of three spirals working their
way out from a single central point turning to the right,
supposedly a beneficial direction.
Some people say it has no meaning, whereas others say
it symbolises the divine trinity character (Taranis, Lug &
Ogmios) and mother godesses ("Trimatrones"), the three
elements (water, air and fire), the division of society into
three classes (leaders, warriors and workers), the three
circles of existence, bard triades, etc...
Galettes & Crêpes
THE ORIGIN OF THE GALETTE supposedly goes back to
around 7000 BC. At this time the galette was the basic
foodstuff in the countryside. Served with various cereals
and grains it was nothing other than a dried and spread out
mash.
THE GALETTE DE SARRAZIN was cooked on a pan on one
side only. You could cut it into thin strips to accompany
soups or stews or have it still warm with egg, pâté,
sausage, sardines and many other types of local produce
THE CREPE DE FROMENT is a lot crispier and is obtained
by lengthy beating of the mixture and is cooked on both
sides on hot stones or iron 'biligs'. Thick galettes and
thin crêpes whose popularity goes back, so they say, to
Duchess Anne of Brittany, and this was ideal produce for
poor soil which was the case for most of Brittany. Crêpes de
froment were reserved for land owners and townsfolk.
THE ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST GALETOIRES (or what today
we'd call a crêperie or crêpe stall) in the 15th century on
market days or at local fêtes would bring a village or
'bourg' together for the day. There the ''crêpières'', crêpe
chefs, would work from dawn to prepare enormous stacks of
galettes accompanied by pâtés, sausages and salty butter.
The crêpe de sarrasin was eaten as a dessert as the
crêpieres added eggs to the mixture and added cinnamon or
orange flower to add flavour. And so the sweet crêpe was
born. Soon, the crêpe de froment would replace the sarrasin
and milk would be added to the mixture.
From 1872, the eating of crêpes and galettes
drastically diminished more and more each day. It was the
grand invasion of BREAD! Nowadays, crêpes and galettes are
more a party food. They are made more rarely than before,
are more and more varied and accompanied with more varied
fillings.
|
|
