the baccubert

The BaccubertAuthor(s): Violet AlfordSource: Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Dec., 1940), pp. 8-14Published by: English Folk Dance + Song SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4521170 .

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The Baccubert

BY VIOLET ALFORD

THIS sole survivor of the Sword dances of France was seen on August i6th, 1939, in the Alps of the old province of Dauphine. Overshadowed by the mountains of the Franco-Italian frontier, guarded by Vauban's useless forts, the hamlet of Pont de Cervieres lies on a green and golden slope between the rocky feet of the Alps and the young Durance river. The green, when I saw it, was the second hay crop, the gold was the corn harvest already standing in ordered sheaves under the mid-August sun. The whole country lies some 4,000 feet above sea level, and is under snow for at least five months each year. The villages have already quite an Alpine character, their tall wooden houses reminding one of the uncomfortable architecture of the Swiss Valais rather than of the smiling, homely chalets of Canton Berne and Vaud. Briancon on its fortified rock, the chief place in the valley, towers above little Pont de Cervieres, which is only a couple of kilometres from it.

The lower town of Brian,on, most unfortunately, was holding its fete on August I5th, the day of the Assumption. Consequently the whole place was crowded and accommodation hard to come by, and hard to bear when found. I spent the whole noisy day in the relative calm of Pont de Cervileres, and there on the spot, as well as previously in the Archives des Hautes Alpes at Gap, reading and in conversation with the Keeper of the Archives, I tried to prepare my ground for the morrow. Monsieur Derminghem, the Archivist, makes a study of the Baccubert, has published several articles, and is preparing a larger work on the subject. His historical learning has not much play, for the Baccubert has no written history, but as a folklorist of wide culture he has seen beyond the circumscribed outlook of far too many regionalists who love " le fol-klore," without well knowing what the mysterious word may mean. His use of the comparative method, bringing under survey the rich field of European examples, allows him to assign this Sword dance of Dauphine to the family to which it belongs.

On the morning of the great day, the feast of St. Roch, to whom with St. Marcel the Church is dedicated, I was there again, and found three dancing-places already marked by the green of young fir trees. These firs, four for each dancing-place,

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must, by tradition, be stolen out of the neighbouring forest by night by the dancers. They are stuck into the ground to form as large a square as possible, and that in reality is no larger than a good-sized room, for the places of the village are minute. Strings of small flags were up, the steep little street was being watered and cleaned -for the only time during the year. Soon a rehearsal, unimpeded by a single on- looker except myself, allowed me to get a first impression of this dance I had been waiting years to see. I made friends with M. Silvestre of the Cafe where rehearsals are held. He it is who keeps the swords, and who is secretary to Les Amis du Baccubert, a local society of men who see that all is carried out according to tradition. Amongst other things he told me that a Monsieur from Scotland had written for information, and to announce his visit, " because he did not believe Sword dances existed outside Scotland." Silvestre and his listener were somewhat amused, though for different reasons, but the Scottish gentleman did not materialise. Several other Silvestres-for the greater part of the inhabitants seem to bear the name- imparted titbits of information which shall come into their right places presently, and in the afternoon the fete began. The dance was performed outside the Church about 2.30, about 3.30 in a still smaller place, and once again half-an-hour later on the road which runs on the level into Brian9on. The village turned out, especially the boys who were hoping their turn was coming in a year or so, but the main crowd came from BrianSon, together with a few French tourists. The nine young men dancers were now in their ceremonial dress, the white shirt and trousers and broad red sash of all southern France, which rather surprisingly reaches into the Alpine country. They wore neat black ties, black leather shoes and no hats. At one time they wore gold headbands, a would-be classic touch I suppose, because the dance in local opinion " comes from the Romans." Their swords were of steel with gilt handles and guards, and the men seemed very young, not more than nineteen years old. They must be unmarried, and may number 9, II or I3, though nobody to-day has ever seen more than nine performing.

Now some gay and charming figures appeared-the five girls responsible for the "mouth music," for no instrument is used. Some time ago old women performed this duty, but no doubt Les Amis du Baccubert judged that music and appearance would be improved by employing girls. These too should be unmarried, (that must be a modern rule, vide the old women) and they wear for the occasion the lovely costume of the Brian,onnais region. Large lace or muslin caps, gaily coloured stiff silks, small shawls and handsome aprons make up the gala dress left over from the early nineteenth century and now, alas, quite obsolete. On the heads of old women however may still be seen small, white cotton caps, hand-quilted in intricate patterns. The girls seated themselves on a bench, tight packed like gay birds on a bough, les Amis cleared a space and the singing struck up. The girls never slackened the tempo nor dropped a fraction in tone. The pace was breathless-for them but not at all for the dancers-and the effort was severe and prolonged. About forty-five

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figures make up the whole dance, and a figure may take many repeats of the tune. Thirty years ago (i9io) a fiddler was introduced, whose instrumental version became very different from the sung version. It was noted, but no longer bears any value, neither does a version shewn me by the Academie Provencale, nor again the earliest noted version with a sharpened 7th found in Millin's Atlas.' Now the singers are nearly back again to that noted by Tiersot in I895 from the old women singers, and published in his Chansons Populaires des Alpes Francaises.2 In my notation the three bars in brackets were sometimes omitted and the tune picked up in bar I3. The singers were evidently quite unconscious of skipping, and it made no difference to the step or figure. I have heard Catalans, singing in a cafe, do precisely the same thing. One supposes those bars are of so little interest that they do not notice their omission, but it is more curious when words have to be skipped too as in the Catalan song. The Baccubert has no words, but carefully ordered syllables,

Et tra la la, laderatanla, laderata ....... These the girls were inclined to blur, but when one made a real mistake the others looked sharply at her, so the unmeaning syllables evidently are of importance.

THE BACCUBERT

Noted by V. A. at Pont de Cervi6res. Aug. 16, 1939. Lively.

AF

dance is still a favourite.

i. A. L. Millin, Atlas pour servir au Voyage dans les departemens du midi de la France. I807.

2. J. Tiersot. Paris. I903.

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Photo. V. Alabaster.

The Swords, in Clash form, are on the ground; the Fool's head with his crownless hat appears in front of them. The hanging wreath is on the left.



....... ..i.... .. .. .... _. _...

Photo. V. Alford. The group in the foreground have made a square of swords, while the Hilt-and-Point

movement continues unbroken. The singing girls are seated in the background.



Here is a short description of the first part of the dance.

NOTATION OF THE DANCE

The first part is called La Leve, the Lift, but the hoisting is now forgotten. Here is a summary of the figures leading up to it.

I. March round clockwise, turn to centre, stand still, swords upright in R. hands, eyes on ground.

2. Place sword points on ground touching R. foot, sword-hands slightly away from sides. 3. Lay swords on ground in clash form (if they were in the air). Stand looking at them, arms

folded. 4. No. I picks up sword having saluted man on his left, who is No. 9. Salutes man on right,

who is No. 2, and gives him point of sword. All ditto from No. 2 to No. 9. Very slowly, using countless repeats of the air. They are now in Hilt-and-Point formation and remain so throughout.

5. Dance round clockwise, step and change beginning with L. foot. Very smooth, no hop, heads hardly bob upwards.

6 and 7. All turn under own sword outwards; reverse, turning inwards. 8 to i6. Single-under beginning with No. 9 passing under sword held by I and 2. Nine repeats

of air. Small circle forms outside but attached to big one, all moving clockwise. Outside men form a square with swords, not locked, cannot be held up for display. All do same in turn. Hilt-and-Point Dance Round all the time.

17. La Love. Smallest man, who is No. i, still holding own sword and point of 9 goes into middle. Others lay swords in lock form on his shoulders, but not locked.

i8. All quasi-kneel eight times including No. I himself. They use R. knee to nearly kneel on throwing L. leg forward fairly high, bringing back L. foot and flexing L. knee as R. leg kneels. No drawing of swords, no falling dead, no resurrection.

i9. Hilt-and-Point Dance Round clockwise.

End of Part I

I was working single-handed, and am therefore unable to give details of this next part. Part 2 is simply called Les Figures, and it may vary each time of dancing according to which figures are performed or omitted. It also varies according to the number of dancers. Eleven dancers can, for instance, make two squares and one triangle at the same time, thirteen dancers can indulge in four triangles at once. I saw the nine men make three triangles simultaneously, two squares, a star, a square and a five-pointed star together. They place their swords in position one by one, each men moving at his leisure and taking pretty nearly a whole repeat to get into place. Such deliberation becomes very tiresome to watch, and prolongs the dance inordinately. Highly interesting as it is to specialists, it has been received with whistles and boos by an impatient French audience at a dance meeting, and should never have been shown as an entertainment. The triangles, squares and stars are not even held up to view-which as we know always calls forth applause from the public-for they are not locked. They are merely laid in shape and appear

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at about elbow-level, so that only from above can they be appreciated. Fortunately one performance found me in a window immediately overhead. Each part of the dance lasts twelve minutes or less, with a long pause between it and the traditional quete. When the company moved on to the next dancing-place, les Amis hung upon the intersection of the overhead lines of flags a large wreath of flowers, from which dangled a medal. This medal had been presented to them at Gap in i866, of which more in a moment. Under this trophy they danced each time. One of the Amis seemed to play the part of a traditional Fool. He wore a straw hat with no crown to it, played pranks, especially during the hanging up of the wreath, but he never approached the dance as our Sword dance Fools do. I learnt afterwards that he does not properly belong to the Baccubert, and that this appearance was an ex- ception. The Fool, as a folk character, is however well known in the village and generally comes out at Carnival. There are Fools however, attached to the Sword dances in the Italian valleys just across the frontier, of which Fenestrelle is one, and to Les Olivettes, an obsolete Sword dance belonging to Provence. So, as these dances form a chain geographically, one may ask whether the Baccubert Fool has been forgotten and is now coming to life again, in the fluctuating manner of folk traditions.

The whole atmosphere of the Pont de Cervieres dance is that of a village rite, especially important to men and boys. The demeanour of the dancers is grave and dignified; they hardly lift their eyes from the ground. The tedious pace, I con- jecture, may have been copied from old men who could go no faster, when at some time a new start was made with younger men. Directions for figure 4 is " tres vite," but it took nearly a whole repeat of the music for each man to salute and get into hilt-and-point formation. The date has probably been changed to coincide with the Patronal Fete, a very common change-compare our Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, once on Twelfth Day, now at the Wakes. The Baccubert may, like the Horn Dance, once have belonged to the mid-winter cycle, for technically it takes its place amongst similar European Hilt-and-Point dances performed at that season, which includes Carnival. Another bit of ritual well known elsewhere is the necessity for stealing something-here the fir trees.

PRINTED REFERENCES

To finish this short study we must glance at a few printed mentions of this dance, and listen to what local tradition has to say. This last is almost invariably wrong, nevertheless sometimes a vestige of truth underlies the fancies, so they too must be heard. On September iith, I73I, fifteen or sixteen young men of Pont de Cervieres were summoned for maltreating young men of Briancon. These last had stolen the trees prepared for " planting " outside the Church of St. Roch, and the men of Pont de Cervieres, naturally incensed at the stealing of their stolen trees, set upon the

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perpetrators thereof " avant d'aller danser au Pont de Cervieres."3 The Baccubert is not mentioned by name, but the date of the trial-just a month after the feast of August i6th-the trees, and the fact that the dancers were young men, leave no room for doubt. Seventy-three years later we know that the Baccubert was danced on the 22nd Fructidor, according to the Revolutionary calendar, at the inauguration of the great obelisk on the Italian frontier at Montgenevre.4 The company returned to Brian,on and witnessed the dance in a salle there. Again, at Gap in i866 it was danced at the unveiling of the statue of Ladoucette, a regionalist and Prefet under the first Empire. Here the dancers and singers were presented with the large medal they now display. From this time on many journalists, tourists and regionalists have had something to say about it, President Lebrun saw it, and Tiersot made his notation of the air. A valuable technical description, consulted by the dancers themselves when in doubt (thus linking folk tradition with modern folklore studies) was published by Dr. Raphael Blanchard in I9I4. His illustrations are interesting, but his deductions as to origin can be skipped as will be understood when we read that " c'est une danse des epees qui ne se ce'lebre . . . qu'en un seul endroit au monde." Yet curiously, he actually mentions the Sword dance at Fenestrelle (which we saw at the International Folk Dance Festival in London, I935), a few miles off across the Italian frontier. But that is airily swept aside because there is a Harlequin and other characters, and because drums keep the rhythm instead of singers-" Cette danse " therefore " ne resemble donc en rien au bacuber." Peter Breughel's picture of a Flemish Sword dance, found (rather unfortunately for him) by the Doctor needs some handling. Breughel was known to have travelled in the Alps. Therefore he must have come to Pont de Cervieres, saw the Baccubert and introduced it into a Flemish village scene. So Breughel is as easily disposed of as Harlequin. Yet this was written in I9I3, our English Sword dance books5 were being published, The Mediceval Stage6 dealing with Morris, Sword dances and Mummers had been out many years, and the well-known pictures of the Nuremberg and Ditmarschen dances could, one would have thought, hardly have been possible to avoid. In the copy of Blanchard's booklet in the library at Cecil Sharp House I have just found a page from the Times Literary Supplement, July 3rd, I919, containing a long review of the work, dealing kindly with the author's patriotic blindnesses. What is of interest now-a-days is to find that the reviewer himself had not known of the Breughel Sword dance picture until he found it there reproduced. He gives a lively description of the print and expresses his interest honestly.

Local tradition says the Baccubert comes from the Romans, or (of course) from the Saracens, like all else in Provence. It is " very difficult," " not without danger," and must not be taught to outsiders, more especially not to Briancon men. It is

3. From the Archives des Hautes Alpes. 4. From an article by M. Derminghem. 5. C. J. Sharp. Sword Dances of Northern England. London. 1907-I3.

6. E. K. Chambers. The Medievval Stage. Oxford University Press.

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unlucky to dance it away from the village. One pseudo-scientific explanation of the name makes it " Basque-Ibere," (Pont de Cervieres being about as inaccessible to both these races as well may be) ; another makes it a derivative of Bacchus; yet another draws it from Bal Cubert, which is patois for couvert. It has been done in barns certainly. Lately M. Marcel Provence has annexed it for Haute Provence, repudiates, very properly, a Germanic origin, as did M. Derminghem in a lively round with pan-German-minded Dr. Richard Wolfram. M. Provence considers it Celtic. My own opinion coincides with this last proposition. Although it never belonged to the Provincia Romana Dauphine has undergone ProvenSal influence, and its dialect of the langue d'oc is closely allied to that of Provence. There is some talk at present of a Ligurian substratum, but I do not think that these Mediterranean people can be descried so far north. To my mind the constant occurrence of such test-word Celtic place-names as combe and nant satisfactorily proves this region to be a Celtic country. In any case we need not try to pin the Sword dance to Celtic or to any other race, as a study of its European distribution amply demonstrates.

LES OLIVETTES

A real Proven,al Sword dance, Les Olivettes, which I have mentioned, has only just died out, well within living memory. It belonged to Aubagne, Draguignon, and elsewhere in the department of the Var. Like the Baccubert it contained a Le've, a real one, the Fool or Harlequin being hoisted upright on the locked swords. From this steel platform he addressed the crowd in verse. It had a clash, a hilt- and-point clockwise movement, a Maypole figure, and had come under the influence of the ubiquitous Morisca, and so showed a Moorish King in a turban. It is being revived, very inaccurately, amongst the children of Draguignon. Girls are introduced to plait the Maypole, and the hilt-and-point figure is almost overlooked. Yet there are clear directions in the Draguignon town library, pictures in the Arles Museum, and a rollicking account in La Chevre d'Or by Paul Arene. It seems in fact, to have been almost a counterpart of the Fenestrelle dance. At one time the Olivettes young men were dressed as Roman soldiers, in spite of the Moorish King; the Baccubert sometime golden headbands point the same way. The Fenestrelle dancers wear Moorish turbans. Olivettes and Fenestrelle show a Maypole figure, boast a ritual Fool, called under Commedia dell'Arte influence after the famous Harlequin. The Baccubert Fool, whether he belongs to the dance or not, is certainly no Italian Arlequino but a folk Fool, pure and simple. They have forgotten the meaning of la Leve: no sign of death or resurrection remains. Happily they have not suffered from the Morisca taint, perhaps because of their distance from the Moor-haunted coast. Lying as it does between these two other excellent examples, I cannot but believe the Baccubert to be just another of the same type.

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the baccubert

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