Never having been to Dijon, all I knew was it's in Burgundy and back in the States its
name is on mustard. As it turns out, there really was a guy named Poupon and Dijon
really is known for mustard. In fact there's a store there, Maille, that's has
it on tap and you can take your own container to be filled with one of three
different moutardes du jour. We felt
right at home, though, since one of the wettest, coldest and longest winters in
Bordeaux history followed us right up north.
This
shitty weather thoughtfully stayed with us through two days in Lyon then right
down to Nîmes where it cleared up just in time for us to go home. Nîmes, being
in one of the warmest regions of France, I optimistically (there's a phrase you
don't hear from me very often) packed a couple pairs of shorts that never left
the suitcase. On the plus side, this city has two of the world's best preserved
Roman buildings in it's arena and what's called the Maison Carré, the Square House, so Cynthia was especially happy.
For
me, though, the highlight of the trip came during the two days in Lyon, the
second city of France and, like Pittsburgh, situated at the confluence of two
major rivers, the Rhône and Saône. Wait a second, this is how travelogues
start. Disregard this paragraph.
On
a two-day stopover in Lyon, we went to the World Puppets Museum so I could see
the original Guignol, what could be
called the National Puppet of France but it's more than that. Guignol is a major part of the culture
of this country and there is no American equivalent. He was created in the
early 19th century by an out of work Lyon silk-weaver named Laurent Mourguet.
According to the museum, when Mourguet lost his weaver gig he decided to try
his hand as a tooth-puller - that's right, a tooth puller. How the skill of
weaving silk leads to yanking molars is anyone's guess but Mourguet also hit on
the idea of puppet shows as a way to drum up business. Again, who knows, but
this ended up being more lucrative than amateur dentistry. The main character
of every show was called Guignol (gheenyol)
and is thought to be modeled on Mourguet himself. The shows and characters
became popular with the working class and spread all through France. When they
lost their popularity with adults, like Warner Brother's cartoons, the
characters evolved into children's entertainment. Maybe that's why I get a kick
out of them.
Here
in Bordeaux, both large parks have permanent outdoor theatres that have Guignol shows on the days kids are out
of school. Every fall, traveling puppeteers make their way through the French
countryside and this is how we first encountered him. I've enjoyed puppet shows all my life possibly because 1950's
television had plenty, especially on Saturday mornings when you saw Kukla, Fran and Ollie as well as Andy
Devine with Froggy the Gremlin. In
truth, these shows were pretty lame and I was actually afraid of Midnight the Cat, one of Andy Devine's
characters.
A
couple of years ago, while we vacationed near Aix-en-Provence, I saw a poster
for one of these shows and almost killed us trying to make it to the
little town in time for the show.
In this performance, Guignol was
looking for a job and was being helped by a friend. The characters
were simple and even though I couldn't understand a word, it wasn't too hard
to figure out that the moral was that honesty is rewarded. Most of the 8 to 10
kids who came with their parents or grandparents of course got caught up and
shouted encouragement and directions at the characters. They laughed at the
silliness and had a great time because they were still young enough for
make-believe. Not one of them had any of the electronic babysitters that seemed
to be fixed to American kids hands. All in all this was one of the sweetest and
most charming things I’d ever seen and now I have the excuse of language
training any time I want to walk to the park for a puppet show.
Did you do the Gray Poopon in Spain?
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