During the color starved months of a Normandy winter, I find myself looking back at photographs from La Fête du Potiron, a festival which used to take place each year in my village of Caligny. It brought to life the music, costumes, and community of an earlier time. And of course, there were the Pumpkins!
Our commune, the colloquial term for village, is home to some 850 inhabitants. Caligny is located in the Départment of Orne, one of 96 Départments that make up mainland France and one of five Départments which make up the region of Normandy.
As recently as 2002, there were 505 communes within Orne, and in spite of a recent trend of grouping villages into larger conglomerations, bringing the number down to 381 communes in Orne, the number is still impressive for a land mass that is smaller than the state of Delaware (which has a mere 44 towns).
As Charles de Gaulle famously complained in 1962, “How can you govern a country in which there are 246 kinds of cheese!”
Within rural village life, the significance of La Mairie (pronounced La Meh-REE) cannot be overestimated. Translated as town hall or mayor’s office, most every French village has one, although the numbers continue to dwindle. The Mairie is a friendly place where each person is known personally by the mayor, and is seen somewhat regularly throughout the year, where one goes in person to faire des démarches (to take care of tasks and duties of civic life, of which there are many). This may include anything from getting an identity card to getting married!
As more Mairies close with the march of time, La Fête du Potiron, the Pumpkin Festival, becomes more important as a village event. As more and more tasks and duties are fulfilled online, life in the commune becomes less about crossing paths with one’s neighbors, and so the Pumpkin Festival is a much needed antidote to the isolation that besets modern life.
2.Start of Parade
Villagers turn out in traditional Normandy costumes at the start of the Fête du Potiron.
3.Ribbon Cutting
The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony to open the Fête. The kids had problems using blunt safety scissors so someone went to fetch a set of shears!
4. Georgette & Odile
Mother and daughter enjoy a day out at the fair. Odile (R) grew up in the village and has worked as the secretary at the Mairie for more than 30 years. The Fête du Potiron could not have happened without Odile’s vision and hard work. Her artistic and organizational gifts were put to good use in hosting battalions of villagers for flower arranging marathons. Georgette, now deceased, was a font of wisdom and know how. Once on a walk, she showed me how to pinch off the top new green leaves from stinging nettles to eat for an energy boost.
5.Brass Band
The amateur brass marching band have plenty of volume, and you have to be there to appreciate the effort that they put into it.
6.Normandy Draft Horses
Normandy is famous for its horse breeding, the National Stud, Haras du Pin, being just 40 miles away. On the other end of the equine spectrum, there are the great Percheron the southeast of our department (Orne). Pictured here are a brace of Norman Cobb beauties decked up to the nines.
7.Carriage Rides
Horse drawn carriage excursions give an added thrill to the day.
8.Musicians for the Dance
Everyone in a traditional costume gets ready to dance to the sounds Normandy folk tunes played on the clarinet and accordion.
9.Traditional Normandy Dancing
The traditional dances get underway, a slice of old life for spectators to enjoy. The men wear a working smock, called a Blaude, finished with a red neckerchief and of course the wooden clogs called Sabots. The women wear high lace covered hats and colorful aprons and shawls.
10.The Village Square
The word “Potiron” refers to pumpkins and gourds, of which there are more than 80 varieties, all grown in the neighboring gardens.
11.AlençonLace
The lace features a lot in Normandy costume and is made in Alençon, the largest town in Orne. Called the queen of lace, it is considered among the world’s finest, and The New York Times wedding announcements are peppered with phrases such as “Alençon needle lace”, “The bride escorted by her father wore a gown of white organdy and Alençon lace”, and “Femininity keynote: Alençon lace was used as a trim or as a jacket ....”
12.Wheelbarrows
The wheelbarrows in Caligny Patois are called berouettes. Children fill them with pumpkins.
13.Pumpkin Kids
Mugging for the camera, kids sprawl on the prizewinning pumpkins, the winner for heaviest came in at 78 kilos (178 pounds)! The judging was competitive and very serious, but afterwards every one breathes a sigh of relief.
