[HN Gopher] The stilt-walking shepherds of France's grasslands, ...
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The stilt-walking shepherds of France's grasslands, 1843-1937
Author : ZeljkoS
Score : 92 points
Date : 2022-03-20 10:34 UTC (12 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (rarehistoricalphotos.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (rarehistoricalphotos.com)
| wincy wrote:
| This is super interesting. Curious how using stilts helps in a
| swamp land as my assumption would be that the stilts would get
| stuck. Obviously there was some practical advantage or they
| wouldn't have done it, though. Also why did the swamps dry up?
| Was this because of weather changes or human intervention?
| seszett wrote:
| The swamps were dried up as a state initiative and replaced
| with what is now one of the largest artificial forests of
| Europe, if my memory is correct for both sanitary reasons and
| to produce trees for shipbuilding.
| abeppu wrote:
| Oh, that really changes the backdrop for this paragraph:
|
| > In the 19th century, as the marshes of Landres dried up and
| the shepherd's need to move on stilts began to disappear, the
| practice became strangely fashionable among some of the more
| eccentric aristocrats of French society. In the early 20th
| century, stilt marathons were held in Paris, celebrating the
| French agricultural tradition.
|
| As you say, this was an intentional afforestation project
| which ended pastoralism in the area; it's not merely that the
| shepherds' needs changed as that there were no longer
| shepherds. Aristocrats finding amusement mimicking the
| practices of a group that was effectively destroyed by a
| national action seems at best lacking awareness.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landes_forest#History
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19_June_1857_law
| idiotsecant wrote:
| I'm not sure awareness of the social plights of the
| oppressed underclass was a big hallmark of early 19th
| century aristocrats.
| zdragnar wrote:
| Putting on affectations of the underclasses is kind of
| typical for aristocrats. Young rebellious French
| aristocrats are why Bohemian went from being a racial
| descriptor of Bohemians to "colorful eclectic artsy
| peasant fashion".
| cinntaile wrote:
| I don't get how reach the conclusion that the aristocrats
| lacked awareness because they held stilt marathons to
| celebrate the tradition?
| liotier wrote:
| More about the man-made change of the Landes from dreary
| marshes to the best managed forest in Europe:
|
| https://www.swsurfhouse.com/blog/history-of-landes
|
| https://www.green-resort.com/en/experiences-us/nature-
| discov...
| agumonkey wrote:
| As a french kid, we knew about them, we even had tiny stilt races
| at yearly school fairs. But for some reason, they never gave us a
| third stabilizing stick ! Still very fun, but you gotta plan
| ahead quite a bit more.
|
| A few years back I also saw people with spring loaded powerskips
| doing "powerhikes" in the forest, a sort of evolution :)
| aaronrobinson wrote:
| We had these stilt races in the UK too, at least at my school
| anyway. This was circa mid 70s
| agumonkey wrote:
| Were they also used in the UK countryside ?
| jackyinger wrote:
| Ugh, I don't really buy the swamp thing; sheep are creatures of
| fields. Plus none of the pictures depict scenes of swamps. Other
| than that this is quite neat.
|
| This rekindles some of my fond memories of stilting as a child.
| The long walking stick is a great idea; much easier to keep from
| falling. Perhaps I should make a set. :)
| Broken_Hippo wrote:
| It doesn't say swamps - it says marshes. Marshes aren't swamps
| and do not have the deep, all-year standing water. [1]
|
| And I have seen sheep in this environment: Farmers let the
| sheep roam mountaintops in Norway. Some of that land is marsh -
| and the ground gets, for lack of better words, squishy.
| Sometimes, you'll step and water _might_ come over your shoe,
| but it is just as likely to come halfway up. I thought a marsh
| would have been more similar to a swamp before I actually was
| in a marsh.
|
| I have heard that every once in a while, they'll have to help a
| sheep out of some of the deeper areas, but this isn't enough of
| an issue to stop the practice.
|
| [1]https://www.reconnectwithnature.org/news-events/the-
| buzz/wha....
| seszett wrote:
| It's just called "the heaths" ( _les landes_ ) in French, and
| heaths do support sheep. But I have indeed also heard the story
| of how it used to be a large marsh, so I guess it was simply a
| patchwork of marshes and heaths. In any case, the area seems
| much too large to me to have been a single large swamp.
| micromacrofoot wrote:
| These people must have been incomprehensibly adept at stilt
| walking, can you imagine using them everyday for work over
| decades? The closest thing we have today are circus performers,
| and even then I imagine they spend much less cumulative time
| ambling around on unsteady ground.
| elliekelly wrote:
| And maybe drywall people I think? Or painters? I've definitely
| seen construction workers using modern stilts to get them
| closer to the ceiling without needing a ladder. But I'm not
| really _why_ or how often.
|
| I really enjoyed the postal carrier on stilts. It's got to be a
| lot more efficient in terms of distance covered for energy
| exerted.
|
| Edit- It seems they're called "painter's stilts"[1] and I'm
| kind of tempted to buy a pair. Maybe a helmet, too. Just in
| case...
|
| They don't look like they'd be as agile and graceful as the
| stilts in the post though because they have the flat "foot".
| Although they're probably a lot safer and more comfortable.
|
| [1]https://www.amazon.com/painter-stilts/s?k=painter+stilts
| micromacrofoot wrote:
| How often do they use these compared to the shepherds, I
| wonder... seemingly not long enough to carry around a resting
| staff?
| frosted-flakes wrote:
| For some tapers, they're up and down on stilts all day,
| every day. I've never done it myself, but I've seen the
| tapers at work on them, and they walk quite naturally and
| have no need for a walking stick (couldn't use one anyway
| when you're hands are full with a bazooka, etc.).
| fatboy wrote:
| Electricians and plasterers often work with stilts on
| construction sites (in Europe at least).
|
| https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=electrician+stilts
| nerdponx wrote:
| "As the marshes dried up"
|
| Did they dry naturally due to some kind of local climate change?
| Were they drained by humans? Did they dry up because humans
| diverted their water sources for power, irrigation, etc?
| wodenokoto wrote:
| I don't know why this is downvoted, it is a good question, that
| was asked probably simultaneous to you in a sibling thread,
| where it got some discussion:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30741556#30743578
| hokkos wrote:
| French TV report of current stilt walking but for sports :
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doCXCm4IucU
|
| And a present shepherd :
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MG2YXBORCI
| pcmoney wrote:
| I would think the stilts would be worse on marshes than shoes
| given the smaller surface area increases the PSI resulting in
| more post holing? Maybe it was just a top layer that was wet with
| a firm substrate?
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