Jean Deauvignaud The Festive Spirit
Jean Deauvignaud The Festive Spirit
Jean Deauvignaud The Festive Spirit
15 Frene!
encounters
We invite readers to
send us photographs to
be considered for
architecture or any
other subject which
seems to be an example
of cross-fertilization
between cultures.
photographs.
Idole gardienne de
la rminiscence
1986, oil on canvas
(53 x 94 cm)
by Irne Dacunha
"My paintings are not nostalgic evocations of
of my relationship with my own environment, a pragmatic society which is losing its spirituality."
Her work, which draws
CONTENTS
DECEMBER 1989
4
Interview with
NAJIB MAHFOUZ
...true artists can accept
outside influences which
9
Today there are no more
unexplored continents,
w3.
" 47
PORTRAIT
17 FATHER DAMIEN,
CITIZEN OF THE WORLD
HIGH DAYS
AND HOLIDAYS
by Jean Duvignaud
by Mamadou Seek
19
48
LETTERS TO
THE EDITOR
by Laurence Caillet
24
FAREWELL TO WINTER
by Hlne Yvert-Jalu
32
professional standpoints an
authoritative treatment of a
SAMBA TIME!
The compass guiding this journey through the world's cultural landscapes is respect for the dignity of man
everywhere.
38
Cover:
42
(Switzerland).
INTERVIEW
with
Najib Mahfouz
In the course ofits long history, Egypt has faced many chal lenges stemming from its encounters with other culturesGreek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, and Turkish. Since Bona
experience for Egypt nor for the Arab world. As you have rightly pointed out, before the flowering of Islamic culture, Egypt had been exposed to far-reaching influences from the
cultures of India, Persia, Greece and the Mediterranean
seaboard, not to mention that of ancient Egypt. All these encounters with other worlds were rewarding and enriched our traditional identity and classical culture. They added vigour to our living organism rather than impoverishing it or inhibiting its development.
There has been a fresh encounter with the West over
the past two centuries. In some respects this contact has been negative. But if we look carefully at the results as a whole,
the positive features can be said to have outshone the rest.
them, we have created new and specifically Egyptian forms of the novel, the short story and the essay. Naturally, our narrative style has its origins deep in the Arab past, but we can say that its roots have been renewed and given a fresh lease of life by the currents of thought emanating from Europe. Those currents have become so integrated into our environment and culture that they can no longer be distin
guished from them. They have become so acclimatized that
they appear to have been here for ever.
life
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Many developing countries have close contacts with Western civilization. Because ofthis proximity some intellectuals in these countries adopt attitudes that are even more
The characters in your writing seem to be moved by a passion which tirelessly follows them through the old quarters of Cairo. You invest them with a tremendous love
European than those of the Europeans themselves. So they produce works which are mere imitations ofEuropean models. Are Egyptian intellectuals susceptible to such temptations? have passed through a number of stages in this respect, the first of which was the translation of European works into our language. The second stage was the adaptation of those works and their integration into our environment, in other words the "Egyptianization" of an alien cultural product. The third stage is that of maturity, when a writer's own personality attains its full self-expression.
of life, yet at the same time they possess great serenity, Through them, wefeel that you are perfectly at peace with yourself and, moreover, overcome with gratitude... true. I have always given thanks for the almost sacred privilege I have been granted of being able to "identify" the human beings of this city which I know and love so well. Once those lives which go on around me enter my field of vision, they become characters, in other words they become creatures of my own flesh and blood. My gratitude becomes a creative act.
We have been strongly influenced by Europe, as you say, and there have been imitators. But imitation is not art, nor is it a sign of cultural maturity. To my mind, true artists can accept outside influences which can be assimilted in order to better express the truth that they bear within themselves. I suppose something similar to this occurred in both North and South America, for example. At the outset, the old world may perhaps have been imitated, but later a specific literature was created which has in its turn influenced European writers. In short, following a cultural
shock, external models may be copied at first, but it is
Your novel Midaq Alley* is bathed in a religious atmosphere. Is this a reflection of your personal universe or one aspect of the reality that inspires you? "atmosphere" features in several of my works, but it is not a literary device nor a denominational choice: it is part of the reality I am describing and which is most often set in the old quarters of Cairo. An artist, to my mind, has to depict that reality without distorting it. Without going in for fanaticism or ideological commitment and without speaking out in favour of one belief or another,
important to go beyond this stage and find richer outlets for the expression of one's creativity.
Let us look at a cultural movement which followed a different path. A number ofwriters in Arabic emerged in the Americas early this century. They formed part of the wave of immigration to the New World that took place from 1910, and they were known as the Mahjar (emigration or exodus) writers. Did this emerging Arab literary movement have any influence in its turn on the Arab world? It had a considerable influence! It contributed to the renewal of Arabic language and literature. I followed with admiration the progress of the Mahjar writers, especially the poets, and they left a profound impression on me. The fact that they were writing far from our own land did not diminish the great attraction they had for us. Their literature, born on another continent, has a very special flavour and resonance that we greatly appreciate in the Arab world,
Their works reflect the milieu in which they lived, they are
In view of the current growth of technology and the destructive purposes for which it is sometimes used, and ofthe threat to nature all over the planet, what values are left? Do you think that religion can offer a response to these challenges and limit the risks of dehumanization? -The progress made by science and technology has not always been negative. It has been of immense service to mankind. Of course there are some destructive aspects, but I think that this process of dehumanization can be fought with the aid of two great forces: religion and art. Through these forces it is possible to turn scientific progress to human advantage. But I insist on the fact that there is no need
to be afraid of scientific progress; science and technology are capable of correcting their own mistakes. One example can be seen in current efforts to produce non-pollutant energy. Progress cannot be stopped, but we must not surrender to panic. I am optimistic that science, guided by a sense of awareness, can constantly adjust its trajectory. Art and religion are there to lighten the way.
Through them, the Americas acquired a certain presence in my OWn WOrk and, generally Speaking, marked the recent
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EDITORIAL
LL societies, past and present, seem to have had their feasts and festivals,
their high days and holidays when people could abandon themselves to the spirit of the occasion and momentarily forget the trials and tribulations of their daily
lives. Today however it is often said that some spark, some element of mystery
that enlivened the festivals known to our ancestors seems to be dying out.
The world's festivals form a variegated tapestry in which many different threads
are woven: ritual and spontaneity, tradition and licence, the sacred and the
profane, rich and poor, individual solitude and collective warmth. They have always been occasions when differences could be reconciled, if only temporarily.
At once chaotic and planned, they were times when the usual rhythms were
periodically disrupted and the group rediscovered the secret of the origiAof
the world. The need for order triumphed over disorder.
rural societies with a strong sense of community spirit, societies where life is
implacably to reproduce a cosmic design. But how do they fit into life in modern
cities where the individual is a lone face in an anonymous crowd, discovers that
there is a difference between the laws of nature and the laws of society, and has
Do they perform the same function in the modern world as they did in traditional
c , societies? What values are celebrated today by the colourful events which, as
flfc owirling aggfers at tm
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-
tally different context, Sir James Frazer, the author of The Golden Bough, saw feasts and fes
tivals as acts which reproduce the great systems of beliefs and mythologies. From these major
anthropologists such as Boas (on the Eskimos), Frobenius and Griaule (on the Africans), and
Malinowski (on the Melanesians).
quate description of such events. In Casamance, for example, south of the Sahara, the passage of
11
a corpse on a stretcher adorned with the horns of an ox generates an excitement which provides the living with a way of socializing death.
Brazilian children in a suburb of Salvador laugh
and sing as they follow the coffin of one of their
friends. In Mexico, the Feast of the Dead trans
forms the macabre apparatus of funerals into farce, as if seeking to abolish the anguish caused
by the inevitability of death.
Virgin of the Marshes, in which Arab, Christian and Gypsy allegories overlap. A celebration on
the beach at Yemanja in northeastern Brazil is
1 he "Gangaur" spring
festival in honour of Gauri, goddess of Abundance, in Rajasthan (India).
KJpposite page, (above)
Samoan dancers, (below)
of Roman Catholic mysticism in Italy and Spain. Something of their spirit has survived in the great
festival held on the cathedral forecourt at Guada
of being together. Communal meals, the agape ("love feasts") of the ancient Greeks, banquets
in town and country, brotherhoods, initiatory
groups, gatherings for dancing and music, inti
mate or Utopian celebrationsminiature festivals
of this kind are found in all civilizations and are
Urban festivals such as the processions of an cient Athens, Chinese imperial ceremonies, "royal entries" into European cities of the Renais sance, the wedding of the doge of Venice and the
sea, and the Lord Mayor's Show in London have tended to be more highly orchestrated. Traces of such traditions survive today in the Palio of Siena
and the carnivals of Venice, Bale, Munich and
Flanders.
casions, on which community feeling is expressed even more intensely than in larger-scale events,
JEAN DUVIGNAUD,
of France, teaches at the
A claim on existence
The form and meaning of all these festivals vary
between different cultures and religions and are influenced by fashion and technology, but each
one, whatever its scale, is the vehicle of a tran
anniversary celebrations organized by all rgimes and all nations to commemorate symbolically the pact or contract made between a people and a
founder, or the event which led to the formation of the state. Festivities with a didactic intent, such
12
("Festivals and
we) ^:>'s
_. -- - *
The French ethnologist Roger Caillois wrote of the "hurly burly" which turns established hie
rarchies upside down at festival-time. Georges
Bataille believed that feasts have a force which
leads to the transgression of established rules. In this respect the Paris Commune of 1871 was a
festival, and so was May 1968 in Paris. These
ANTICLOCKWISE
FROM LEFT:
1 he Venice carnival
Decadence or renewal?
What has become of all these festivals in McLu-
appear from industrial societies has come about through the development of what Lewis Mumford called megalopolis, of urban and suburban agglomerations which are not communities but
a performance of wayang,
puppet drama.
A funeral rite in
Casamance, Senegal.
lieve, that a process of "planetary banalization" is underway? Is the audience ruining the show?
For a festival is a show. It needs a public. I am not thinking here of the pitiful and more or
Spain.
the choice to present themselves through the me dia to foreign audiences. They have shown the
same desire for recognition as the people of an
Mock lion
from Senegal, a ligbthearted traditional
16
BY MAMADOU SECK
always
group solidarity, as well as to break the monotony of everyday life. Most of these popular festivals have a significance which goes back to very early times. Some festivals, like Senegal's bao-naan, a ritual dance calling for rain in drought-stricken times, pay tribute to a divinity and appeal for his good
offices. Others celebrate the birth of a child, an
abundant harvest or some other happy event. Festive occasions such as light-hearted wrestling matches between champions from different
villages simply offer an opportunity for displays of strength and agility. But all the festivals up hold threatened values such as generosity, a sense of honour and dignity, and courage in the face of adversity, and although during them things
sometimes seem to take a violent turn, univer
sally accepted rules are always respected. All these features are combined in the game of the mock lion, known in Senegal as Simb. I saw this game when I was young, and my memory of it is still undimmed.
The whole district was in festive mood. A
dense and colourfully dressed crowd jostled around the platform of honour on which the notables had taken their places. The oldest people had brought makeshift seats since they could not stand up for long. Each spectator flourished on his forearm a piece of cotton thread studded with
knots died red with cola. This thread, which was
sold by teenage volunteers, was the entrance ticket to the show and afforded protection against the lion's fury. Woe betide those who had no piece of thread! All around tom-toms were beating time while women danced. The nearby streets pulsated with activity. Vendors of water, soft drinks and coco nuts pushed their way through the crowd. On
each side of the main street, lines of headscarves
and loincloths fluttered in the wind. Beneath
them were teenage girls wearing their finest boubus, and decked out with jewels sparkling in
the sun. No one was allowed to cross these lines
without paying a kind of forfeit, the lo-lamb.1 The smallest coin conferred the right to put one's hand on the intimate parts of the women who were taking the money. No one took offence. That was how it had always been.
Six o'clock in the evening. Suddenly there was an indescribable commotion, punctuated
and advanced rapidly towards the platform of honour, sowing panic among the tiny tots hiding beneath their parents' clothes. He went up to a special guest, who wondered for an instant whe
ther this could really be happening to him, and discreetly pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe away a bead of sweat. Everyone was shouting. The man-animal fixed his eyes on ano ther guest, whose lips began to tremblethe poor man had no cotton thread. An irresistible oppor tunity! The "wild animal" leapt on the guilty spectator like an eagle on its prey, pinned him
black soot, his eyes adorned with ochre powder. Everything about him gave the impression of a wild beast, of the king of the forest, symbol of strength and courage. From time to time he opened his mouth wide and slobbered a whitish liquid. Then he began to roar, looking nastily at the crowd. His legs were ringed with jangling amulets and knickknacks. He was a fearful sight. Feigning panic, a lion-tamer hurled himself before the "lion", brandished a long piece of cotton thread and loudly recited an incantatory prayer: "Daar Nd Gande Ndiaye. Daru mala Yala la dar. Ku Yala dar nga daru."2 Seemingly hypnotized by these words, the beast crouched down and pretended to sleep. During this brief moment of respite, the crowd applauded raptu rously, not forgetting in their excitement to bran dish their protective threads to extinguish the
man-animal's murderous intentions.
to the ground with a smart blow from a paw, and then let fly with his fists. By the time the tamer had managed to cool the lion's ardour by utte ring incantatory prayers which were drowned in the general hullaballoo, the poor victim was lying on the ground, his face covered with blood. He was taken away after someone had lent him a cot
ton thread. The festival went on at full tilt until
sunset.
This was the moment when a group of barechested youths rashly pulled the piece of cloth
which served as the mock lion's tail. Some threw
stones at him or chewed and snapped old bones. In unison the spectators sang out the ritual war ning cry: "Det! Way det! Gande bagne na Kuy dam yax."3 Then the lion roared louder than ever and set off in hot pursuit of those who had provoked him. There was pandemonium as the animal engaged in a flurry of biting and boubouripping. He knocked one spectator down. The tamer ran along behind, reciting prayers to get the victims out of their predicament. What mad
ness! What a release!
played energy and perseverance in pursuing and punishing those who had disobeyed the law of the community. The teenagers who had shown their mettle by provoking the wild beast and then standing up to him were heroes too. Their appe tites for excitement satisfied, people went to sleep thinking of the children of the forest, past and present, who had stood their ground before the king of animals. In an afternoon of festivity, man had rediscovered his pride.
1. A Wolof word meaning: "How much do you touch with?"
or more precisely: "How much do you give to have the right
to touch?"
2. "It is not I who tame you, but Allah. When He tames you, you must obey." (Wolof)
3. From the Wolof: "No, no, the lion hates it when people
break a bone!".
MAMADOU SECK,
18
Jtff
corncobs. The agricultural year has ended and it is time for the people to gather in the fruits of
their labour and celebrate the fertility of the
Saints' Day and All Souls' Day), signs of the coming festivities appear in the city streets. Imi
tation skeletons are stationed in shop-windows,
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shinbones made of flour and eggs. Market stalls
are set up to sell toys, sweets and all sorts of
which well-known public figures are shown dead or in the great beyond. Continuing a tradition
which dates back to the end of the nineteenth
The fiesta also gives rise to a variety of cul tural activities. In the big cities people go to ex hibitions on death in the pre-Columbian world
or to the theatre to enjoy the Calaveras de Posadas
rated cardboard coffins from which dancing skele tons jump out, while others pierce holes in gourds
to make eyes, nose and a big toothy mouth, and then light a candle inside them. Some even invent
night of 2 November wooden or cardboard puppet-skeletons bearing topical captions are dis
played as part of a calavera competition held at
Mixquic, a township near Mexico City.
people celebrating Hallowe'en in American stylea variation of the Celtic feast which origi
nated in Ireland. These carousers are the most
a violent and sometimes tragic turn when old quarrels flare up amid the shouting and the fumes
(15th
16th century).
foreheads.
PRECEDING PAGE
they all feed the collective imagination by giving shape to the mosaic of elements that make up the
"Mexican personality". Such rites are performed in the privacy of the home and the sacred atmosphere of the cemetery. In elegant modern cemeteries, people bearing
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smilingly through the cornfields, as if they had just been let out of school". They stay in the
houses for twenty-four hours and leave on 2
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two days, doors are left open and families are under the obligation to welcome all visitors and
friends, since "the souls like to arrive and find
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to play. There is widespread rejoicing and every body joins in a hymn of welcome to the dead. The living and the dead then go together from the cemetery to the houses. In order to ensure that the souls do not lose their way, the path is marked out with flower petals from the threshold to the heart of the dwelling. In its fur
a glass of water, succulent dishes including mole (spiced meat), chocolates, atole (a cornmeal gruel
drink), "bread of the dead", alcoholic drinks such
flames of the candles flicker violently" and, once the deceased have eaten, "the food no longer has
of rites and celebrations which have sprung from ancient Mexican culture and that of the Spaniards.
The myths evoked all set out to answer the same questions, where we come from and where we
are going.
ity from where, with the help of the gods, they will be reborn. Thus say the myths of the cycle
of the five Suns and that of Quetzalcoatl, who dared defy the Aztec god of the dead and seek
the bones with which he had to create human
Autonomous University of
Mexico. He contributed to
23
^ , The Pavilion
BY LAURENCE CAILLET
the Catholic Church sought to replace "pagan" rites and myths with its own. The new myths claimed that man was created to worship God and that his fate after death depended on whether
he had performed that task and on whether his
behaviour had conformed to the moral tenets dic
on the two sets of myths under the patronage of such awe-inspiring images as that of the Virgin
of Guadalupe, Queen of Mexico and Empress of
America. But the Indian customs were banned
search for a national identity or "Mexicanity" led intellectuals to extol the Indian past. With the
separation of Church and state, religious burials
were not allowed and the administration of
myths. As a result, the government now partici pates in the promotion of the Feast of the Dead.
The Feast's vitality was dramatically demon
strated in 1985. Some weeks before it was due to
Buddhism and of Japan's indigenous religion, Shinto, the Way of the Gods.
Japan's main festive period was and is the
New Year, which under the ancient lunar-solar
Zcalo square and, as if they were re-enacting the Nhuatl cosmic myth, divided the square into four parts. One group tendered an offering to the
Cathedral, which is on the site of the old Aztec
necessary to bring about the return of spring. The best description of the meaning of Omizutori is found in a haiku by the poet Rita (1718-1787):
Drawing of water!
temple, while the rest held up placards of protest. As well as an act of protest this was a spirited
gesture of mobilization against death, an ac
knowledgment of man's weakness before the
The water of whirlpools warms From this day also. Every year since the eighth century the
festival has been celebrated at the Buddhist
forces of nature and of his appeal to a divine power. It was simultaneously a political, religious and mythical action, but it turned into a fiesta
that gave expression to man's creative dimension and to his ability to halt for a brief moment the
24 inexorable march of time.
monastery of Tdaiji, at Nara, an ancient capital of Japan. Today it takes place in the first and
wooden building on the top of a hill to the east of the monastery, twelve monks meet to honour
Kannon, the bodhisattva of infinite compassion and mercy. Guided by giant torches whose em
ices are celebrated at specific moments of the day and night. Through ten or more hours of incan
tation to Kannon, of chanting and ritual kneeling,
they could be imitated and performed by men. The bodhisattvas replied as follows: "A day and
Intoning the name of
Kannon to the
accompaniment of the
sistrum.
Jitch then said: "The ceremony must be speed ed up and the thousand circumambulations per
formed at a run.... If I call on him with a sincere
26
first the monks walk very slowly, rolling up the sleeves of their robes and their stoles; then they fasten the lower parts of their garments to their legs. Meanwhile, the curtain concealing the holy
mum '#1
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11
.yJ .-
LAURENCE CAILLET,
French ethnologist, is a
researcher with France's
National Centre for
27
Oil
.
abruptly leaves the group and rushes into the antechamber of the prayer room where a woo
::
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den board known as the plank of prostration is fixed parallel to the floor by a kind of spring. He leaps onto the plank, striking it energetically with his knee, and then returns to his place. Each time
the monks go around the altar, one of them runs
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and knees, with which the worshippers must touch the ground as a sign of penitence. Eventu
ally the pace slackens, the curtain falls, the into
nation starts again, and the silhouettes of the
and dance, disguised as eight monks whose faces are masked by their hair. The first to arrive is
On that night, at two o'clock in the morning, the "master of esoteric rites", wearing a brocade
hat, leaves the pavilion and turns towards the hill
embers, and the god Keshi, who sprinkles grains of rice cracked in the fire. Everyone dances and
leaps to the noisy rhythm made by three other
gods with a rattle, a conch shell and a bell. Two
more brandish a sabre and a willow rod to drive
where the miraculous spring is located. With him is a faithful layman wearing a hermit's white
The conch shells are sounded and then, guided by a lay torch-bearer, everyone goes down the
steps leading to the spring. At that moment, an orchestra begins to play ancient Chinese music
think the birds are pigeons, others that they are messenger cormorants of Ony, the god of fish ing and sovereign of the waters which according to Japanese beliefs form a reservoir of longevity,
if not of eternity. He is also associated with cin
of the twice seven days and seven nights. Pro foundly regretful, the god said to Jitch the monk
that as a sign of contrition he would make the
lustral water spring near to the place of the feast, and at that very moment two cormorants, one black and the other white, suddenly rose from the rock and perched on a nearby tree. From the traces of these birds sprang water of incompara
ble sweetness. Stones were laid there and it be
offered to Kannon. From that day on it is dis tributed to the thousands of pilgrims who flock
to receive in the palms of their hands a few drops of this extraordinary liquid which encourages lon gevity and is a panacea for all ills.
In spite of its extreme solemnity, this rite is
And so, on the second day of March, the priests of the sanctuary of Ony pour into the
river a phial of lustral water which is supposed to flow through an underground channel and
reach the spring of the Pavilion of the Second
29
families welcome the spring. On the eve of the first day of spring, the master of the house, his
eldest son or a specially chosen servant rises while
it is still dark. He dons a traditional kimono and
bows before the altar of the household gods after sprinkling himself with a few drops of purifying
water. Then he puts on new straw sandals and
goes to the nearest spring. Beside the spring or on the lip of the well, he offers the water-god rice cakes and, while reciting a magic formula, draws
with a new ladle and bucket the first water of the
year.
as far as possible compensates for the aging caused by the New Year. According to tradition, peo
ple become a year older at New Year, not on
their birthday.
an elixir of immortality and sent them Akariyazagama, a young servant with red hair and a red
the day of the feast of the new season, they send from heaven the water of youth. That is why
even now, at dawn on the day of the feast of the first season, water of youth is drawn from the well and all the family bathes in it." The water of youth which rises at the foot
of the Pavilion of the Second Moon, like that
which bubbles up in family wells, thus comes from the other world. It is carried by waves from
Penitence and the absorption of holy water are two facets of a single hopeless desire to ob
literate the wear and tear of time and establish
not to live for ever, at least to grow somewhat younger. And so each year, on the night before
Farewell
to winter
BY HLNE YVERT-JALU
JL HE Russian carnival, Maslenitsa, whose origins
are lost in the mists of time, is still celebrated with
undiminished vigour. The celebrations include a number of ancient customs, such as the eating of
commonly called today, more of an entertain ment than a rite. Even though " certain ancient rites are from time to time resurrected, the deeper
the week preceding the six-week period of Lent that leads up to Easter, the eating of meat was forbidden by the Church and so people ate dairy products, fish, eggs and blini maslenye, pancakes
to which melted butter was added to make them
more creamy.
The word Maslenitsa signifies both the carnival itself and the grotesque doll-figure that personifies it. In Moscow, by the eighteenth century, the symbolic aspects of the carnival had already been lost, but they survived in the countryside and in some villages carnival was still being celebrated in its traditional form at the beginning of the twentieth century. The festivities began with the welcome of the Maslenitsa, a doll made of straw and rags, usually
in the likeness of a woman. It was dressed in a
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Sometimes a young couple would be buried together for a brief moment in the snow.
The richer families would begin preparing their blini on the Monday, the poorer ones on the Thursday or Friday. The women would make the batter in accordance with a given ritual. At
JtSlini ready for the feast blouse and a sleeveless peasant's smock and a scarf
was knotted on its head. Sometimes it was
attached to a wheel at the top of a long pole, sometimes the role of Maslenitsa was actually played by a person. It was then paraded through the village, accompanied, on foot or on sleighs, by a noisy crowd of villagers who gave vent to their joy with shouts and bursts of laughter and by dancing and declaiming poems of welcome: The worthy Maslenitsa, generous boyar, Has come to descend our snowy slopes,
To feast on blini And to abandon herself To wholehearted enjoyment. Then the Maslenitsa was placed on a mound or other high point where it remained until the
end of the week.
souls of the departed. In other areas, it was given to beggars so that they could commemorate the dead. Pancakes, served very hot with sour cream, herrings and caviare, were lavished on relatives,
friends and acquaintances. The laws of hospitality required open house to be kept throughout the
carnival. People ate and drank their fill and more,
as if sating themselves so as to get through the long period of Lenten abstinence. As the popular
saying went: "It is sinful not to drink to the
Maslenitsa."
by horsemen on the defenders of forts made of snow, to swings and seesaws. Above all there was tobogganing, which was very popular with the young men and women since it gave them an opportunity to get better acquainted with their
gave rise to countless charming songs. The young married couple would come bearing presents and might stay for two or three days. Sometimes, to welcome them, a Maslenitsa figure would be attached to the roof gable. On the Thursday or Friday, tobogganing would give way to sleigh rides. Young couples, and particularly newly-weds, would parade around their village before setting off for neigh bouring villages or even the nearest town, all
anxious to show themselves off in their finest
wives or husbands to be. Young married couples would shoot down the slopes together in full view of the whole village with the wife sitting on her husband's knees. By popular demand, a couple had to kiss before and after making a descent.
paper flowers, the sleighs would be covered with rugs and the curved wooden cross-piece that
35
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aj
" 11
kj^li
/' V
ft
Sunday evening the sound of rejoicing was hushed as if by magic. This was the moment of Pardon. The villagers would ask each other's forgiveness for any wrongs they might have done one another and then embrace as a sign of reconciliation. At the cemetery, the dead too were asked for forgiveness and blini were placed on their graves. On "Holy Monday", the first day of Lent, houses were given a thorough cleaning, after which the villagers would go to the bania (the bath-house) to bathe themselves. This was the beginning of a period of spiritual and physical purification following the excesses of the festival.
'
W "tiSP
rather Frost and the Snow
A holy time
What is the significance of the Maslenitsa rites?
logical school, whose ideas were fashionable in the middle of the nineteenth century, see the
festival as an echo of the ancient Slav cult of the
passed over the horses' withers, freshly-painted in bright colours, would be hung with sleighbells. The women would leave their cloaks half
Pardon Sunday, the villagers would take their leave of Maslenitsa, the farewells being made in the same noisy bustle as the welcome a week earli er. Once more the straw doll-figure would be installed on a sleigh, but this time the procession accompanying it took on the air of a burlesque funeral. A broken-down nag, rigged out in a pair of torn trousers, pulled a dilapidated sleigh covered with threadbare matting. The driver, a
shape recalled the shape of the sun, were intended to ensure its return. The bonfires, generally lit on high ground, were intended to unite earth and heaven and thus to speed the coming of warmer days. Rimsky-Korsakov took this theme as the basis of his opera Snegurochka (Snow Maiden,
village elder dressed in rags, his face blackened with soot, would indulge in all kinds of buffoo nery, some of which, in other circumstances, would have been considered to go beyond the bounds of decency. Sometimes a small boat or a feeding-trough,
both of which were associated with ancient bu
n L.\'!
rial rites, were placed on the sleigh. At the head of the procession walked a man or a woman
dressed up as a priest and holding an old shoe dangling from a piece of string and representing a censer. Wearing grotesque masks, the priest's assistants intoned parodies of religious chants. Arriving at the edge of the village, the proces sion would halt in a freshly-sown field to "kill"
HLNE YVERT-JALU,
of France, is a lecturer at
sa would be stripped of its clothing, torn apart and cut up into hundreds of little pieces which
were then buried in the snow. In other cases it
this purpose by the young people of the village. This ceremony, the high point of the car
36
opera made possible the return of Yarilo/Sun to shine again in the kingdom of Berendei and for spring to come again. For those who favour the theory of borrow
figure was buried or burned. The magical power of the laughter that accompanied the "killing" of the doll-figure was thought to help the earth
become fruitful.
Roman rites that may have been transmitted to the Slavs by minstrels from Byzantium. Others among them most Russian specialistsbelieve that, like other popular
For many historians of religions, however, the significance of the Russian carnival goes deeper than this merely agricultural explanation might suggest. They believe that the Maslenitsa is important because it belongs to that category of festivals that proclaim the end of one period and the beginning of anothera crucial moment' in any traditional society. Marking the transition from winter to spring and, in ancient Russia, the beginning of the New Year, it is a festival of the recreation of the universeagriculture being only one aspect of the symbolism of periodic
regeneration.
The cult of the dead, a vestige of the ceremonies that accompanied the transitional period between two cycles, forms a link with this
activities were also seen as a method of making the earth fertile. Drawing a parallel between human fecundity and the fertility of the earth, they attributed magical powers to sexuality; hence the attention paid to young couples during the festival. Hence also the wearing of masks which facilitated licentious behaviour. Finally, the fertilizing power of the ear of corn,
myth of eternal renewal. Seen in this light, the reversal of values, such as the parody of interment and the general licentiousness, may represent the primordial chaos which must be mastered to
make possible the cyclic recommencement of the order of things. The confession of sins and Pardon Sunday express the desire for a return to the purity of this new beginning of primordial time. Finally, creation is symbolized by that essential element of the festival, the lighting of
fires.
1 he Winter Carnival
-^W
Samba time!
M, LENTION the word "carnival" and every
one thinks immediately of Brazil. Two weeks before the festival begins, all important business is postponed until after the four frantic days during which the whole country grinds to a halt and everyone takes time out to dance. At carnival time the press, radio and television talk about nothing else. And when Brazilians travelling abroad are asked about their country, the subject of carnival always crops up sooner or later. In
short, it would be impossible to imagine Brazil without its carnival, an event unique in scope and in the collective passion it arouses. Less well known is the increasingly impor tant role played in the carnival by Brazil's samba
schools, the first of which was founded in 1928
at Mangueira, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. Many more schools were started, but at that time they
had no direct connection with the carnival.
Products of the poorer quarters with high black populations, they played no part in the festival, which took place in the centre of Rio and was celebrated by the middle class. Poor people who wanted to take part in the carnival did so virtually in secret; they were even chased away by the police when they attempted to sing and dance in the centre of the city.
The samba, however, soon made itself felt as
a particularly vital form of expression of black identity, which by then had survived three and
a half centuries of slavery. It spread rapidly to the favelas (shanty-towns) in the hills around Rio
de Janeiro. Soon the samba had its own public parades and then, in 1935, the Rio authorities gave official standing to the carnival in its popular
form.
The samba schools were given subsidies from the public purse, ceasing to be informal groups and developing into organizations which received monthly subscriptions and had their own premises, articles of association and elected boards
of directors. A federation of samba schools was
established and only its members could take part in the parades. The growing interest of the state in these parades, coupled with general public demand for exciting spectacles, speeded up this process of "bureaucratization".
In the 1970s, the schools became full-blown
38
show-business companies operating permanently throughout the year. The transient glory of the parades is the product of a continuous effort of which the spectators are quite unaware. The time is long past when the schools thought about the carnival only a day or two before it began. Today the schools get far more of their income from balls and rehearsals (many of which
colourful and
exciting spectacles
are open to the paying public and attract as many as 15,000 spectators), from the commercial exploitation of their cultural product, and from the patronage of the bankers behind the bicho (a kind of lottery), than they do from the monthly subscriptions paid by their members.
The institutionalization of the schools has
also changed the profile of their staff. Most of the accountants, lawyers and administrators that they
have hired come from a different social back
ground from that of their founders and the schools have had to adapt to their viewpoints. The largest schools now aim to set themselves up in modern premises similar to those occupied by clubs patronized by the middle classes. Two Brazilian writers, Amaury Jorio and Hiram Araujo, have memorably described the exciting moments before the carnival begins. "The abre-alas, the leading float that symbolizes the school, is in position. Between it and the allegorical floats that follow come the dancers. The carnival committee is busily at work. The
leading figures slowly take up their positions. The
musicians tune their instruments. When the com
school listens as he sings it through once and then the musicians take up the melody and everyone starts to sing, repeating the samba two or three times without moving as they await the arrival of any latecomers. Then suddenly, as if by mag
ic, the whole school moves off. This is the be
ginning of the most beautiful spectacle of popular art in the world. As though out for a stroll, form ing a procession, dancing and singing the samba, diffusing joy and rapture, the school parades
before us."
The 'sambadrome'
Tiered seating was erected when the spectacle had developed sufficiently to attract large crowds who
were prepared to pay. to. see it. An area was blocked off by means of temporary fencing so that only those who had paid an entry fee could watch. This roused considerable protest from those who could not afford to pay. In 1984, for the first time, the parades took place in a fixed purpose-built locationthe "parade causeway", or "sambadrome" as it is popularly known. Thirteen metres wide, 700 metres in length, the sambadrome is located on the Avenue Marqus de Sapuca and can accom modate 85,000 spectators. It is the work of Brazil's most famous architect, Oscar Niemeyer. The causeway comes into its own on carnival Sunday and Monday when, at nightfall, the topranking samba schools parade for an hour and
40
a half each.
Everything is strictly regulatedthe marking system followed by the jury, the parade time
allotted to each school, the minimum number of
collective figures that are to illustrate it, and the order of presentation of the items.
not always the case. Freedom of choice was the rule at the beginning, but, from 1939 until the
end of the 1960s, successive dictators imposed themes illustrating the history of the nation. Then, in response to pressure from an increas ingly demanding public, the schools recovered
their freedom of choice.
radio and on records. They have become products of the culture industry. Television gives the carnival exceptionally wide coverage. Not only does it transmit nation wide programmes on the parades staged by Rio's top samba schools, it also screens regional balls and parades both locally and nationwide. In 1989,
an estimated 65 million viewers watched these
transmissions.
Another key innovation has been the appear ance of the carnavalesco, the specialist organizer of parades. He conceives the theme, designs the effigies and the allegorical characters, sees to it that the necessary accessories are at hand, selects
the materials to be used, chooses the colours, is
An explosion of colour,
Rio 1989.
responsible for the overall direction of the spec tacle, rehearses the performers and, more recent ly, even has his say in the wording of the samba
themes.
Many of these carnival experts are intellec tuals who have studied choreography, the arts and folklore. Under their direction the parades have become grandiose spectacles, not so much through the number of performers taking part (between 3,000 and 4,000) as through the richness
of the colours and the ordered movements and
is a Brazilian anthropologist
who teaches at the Federal
called for a return to the original, simple tradition. Yet, miraculously, the changes have not extinguished the ardent emotions and joy of the
ordinary samba-lover. All those unknown men
and women, the real driving force behind the carnival, who are willing to spend up to threequarters of their annual salaries just to enjoy these few days of fantasy, still thrill to the mysterious vibrations of the carnival. "It is as though I have entered the gates of heaven. Were I to lose my balance, I should lie down and weep."
41
by the state
T:HE
French Revolution ushered in an age which proclaimed itself to be one of liberty, equality and fraternity. This radical new departure after centuries of monarchy did not
come about without incident. Between 1789 and
1794, the peopleabove all the people of Paris, the centre of political powerconstantly took to, the streets. Full of hope in the future, the participants in this great upheaval turned it into a popular festival which lasted for five years
almost without interruption.
The most striking symbol of this great surge of revolutionary hope is to be found in the many "trees of liberty" that were planted during these
years. In the countryside, a "maypole", whether a tree or simply a post, was traditionally planted on such occasions as weddings and harvest-time as an emblem of fertility, joy and success. During the Revolution, it became a symbol of the
destruction of feudalism, then the emblem of
liberty. A popular festival was inconceivable without a tree of liberty. Each village planted its
own. Adorned with red, white and blue ribbons,
with cockades, flags, red bonnets or the text of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the tree was the centrepiece of the gathering. Beneath its branches liberty newly won was feted and rounds
were danced. It was held to be sacred. When it
was planted, a solemn ceremony was held which often ended with farandoles and singing.
ubiquitous and attracted crowds which joined in songs that usually featured old and well-known
tunes to which new words had been set.
42
BY LAURENCE COUDART
43
1 he National Guard
Anonymous etching.
1 he fountain of
Regeneration "among
by Isidore-Stanislas
Helman.
grenadiers of the National Guard who had come to lend a hand, surrounded the king and several
wagons loaded with grain, flour and barrels of wine. It was a day of rejoicing and fraternization symbolized by the poplar branches which protruded from the gun barrels and which some carried in their hands. It was a day of gaiety, in spite of the deaths of the bodyguards whose heads were borne on pikes: woe betide anyone who dared resist the sovereign people! The heads were warnings rather than
trophies. "The Parisian," wrote Sbastien Mercier in his Tableau de Paris, "makes a joke out of these
tumultuous days." It is true that the most fantastic and outlandish tricks were played amidst
the shouts of a people which, Mercier added, "wished to repair in one day the painful repression which it had endured for several
centuries." A vast crowd took to the streets and
occasion: in public squares but also in popular assemblies and meetings, in prisons, theatres, and even at the tribune of the National Assembly. Once when a citizen had sung at the bar Danton inveighed against what he called this "singing mania". "I have in my nature a good measure of
French gaiety," he cried, "but I demand that from now on at the bar of this Assembly we should only hear reason in prose." Everything was good for a song: public events, swings of opinion, the decrees of the National Assembly. All the struggles of the time, internal and external, found
expression in song.
Every popular insurrection was punctuated with singing. The great revolutionary "days" sometimes ended with spontaneous festivals, as
on 5 and 6 October 1789, when almost 7,000
mingled with this strange procession, while certain onlookers were struck dumb at the sight of the "terrible gaiety" of the "multitude" which surrounded the monarchthe last absolute king to rule by divine right as if he were a prisoner. These popular demonstrations inevitably call to. mind the traditional carnival. The people expressed their joy in impromptu dancing and gesticulation. They treated with derision all that societythe old societyheld sacred, giving vent to a vast outpouring of revolutionary feeling. In spite of the battles, the deaths and the blood, they danced with mingled gaiety and fury. They danced to exorcise their fear as they consigned the past to oblivion. During the insurrection of 10 August 1792 which inaugurated the Republican era, the Paris
mob sacked the chteau of the Tuileries, mas
angry Parisian women marched on Versailles, invaded the royal chteau and won satisfaction
for their demands.
44
Louis XVI was brought back to Paris amid a dancing, yelling, laughing crowd. Thousands of people accompanied the royal coach: "We're bringing him!" they shouted at the bystanders. Women seated on cannon, wearing the hats of
sacred the Swiss guards who had fired on the crowdtheir heads were brandished on pikes and danced to celebrate its victory over the monarchy. The Carmagnole, a famous song still sung today, exalts that day of the "second revo lution". Its refrain, "Let's dance the Carmagnole! Long live the cannon's roar!", is a good illustra-
tion of those hours of joy and violence. Groups dancing farandoles and rounds were seen again
on 21 January 1793 at the place of execution of
Louis XVI, known as "Louis the last".
Constitution had been condemned by the Pope. An important section of the clergy gradually took
the side of the counter-revolution and for the
people the Church became an enemy of the new liberty. New saints, the "martyrs of liberty" who had died for the Revolution, replaced the old. The deputy Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, the journalist Marat (author of the popular newspaper L'Ami du peuple) and the municipal official Charlier
all three of whom were assassinated in
1793became the focus of popular veneration. Their busts were displayed at crossroads, in
organized and hymns composed in their honour. The names of these republican heroes were even
bestowed on new-born babies.
honour of liberty was held in Notre-Dame cathedral. An actress from the Opera played the
role of the goddess of Reason. While hymns were sung, a procession of floats decked out with
flowers, of sans-culottes, children, members of
popular societies and official bodies accompanied the goddess as she symbolically released a black
slave from his chains at the foot of an artificial mountain erected outside the cathedral. The
attributes of royalty and religion were burned in a bonfire around which people danced and drank to fraternity until dawn. After this festival, NotreDame became the Temple of Reason. The cult of Reason soon spread throughout provincial France, and the churches were secularized.
lords, carved fleurs de lys (symbols of the monarchy) and effigies of foreign kings or the Pope.... This htroclite cargo was unloaded on to an immense bonfire. Everyone danced farandoles around the fire or the tree of liberty and drank wine"the holy water of the
Republicans".
Such was the setting of the wave of dechristianization which took place during the first six months of the Year II of the Republic (autumn
manifestations of popular rejoicing in what were simultaneously festivals of destruction and regeneration. Efforts were made to bring order and morality to outbursts which some compared to orgies. In opposition to these atheistical happenings, a festival of the Supreme Being (God)
was established in 1794. It was also intended to
celebrate the universal religion of nature in which, it was solemnly declared, "the French people recognizes the immortality of the soul". It was as part of a Rousseauist desire to promote social education and community spirit that the festivals were arranged for and by the people
45
which was both "spectator and actor". The com mittee of public instruction of the National Assembly was still responsible for organizing
them.
old inegalitarian society and to glorify a new social harmony by emphasizing the republican
"virtues": love of man and nature, of one's
monarchy, was one of "Unity and Indivisibility", a true republican slogan. Conceived as an oldstyle procession, the festival brought together the population in arms, arranged according to sex and age. For hours the procession wended its way through streets decorated with oak-leaves. The first of several places where it halted was on
the site of the Bastille before a fountain of
1 he Festival of Unity
and Indivisibility",
10 August 1793,
Place de la Rvolution,
Paris. Painting
homeland, of friendship and justice, but also hatred for kings and tyrants. Festivals such as those of 14 July and 10 August which commemorated the great revolutionary "days" legitimized the events whereby the Republic had been founded and the break with the past. The festivals held on the tenth day of every ten-day week were republican liturgies which glorified the peoples of ancient Greece and Rome of whom the French people were the heirs. Civic songs and oaths were the order of the day at these festivals which were dedicated to modesty, truth and conjugal love and were supposed to present the new code of morality. The oaths were all more or less in the same vein. This one was pronounced by the people with arms outstretched towards a bust of
Brutus, who had assassinated Julius Caesar to save
Regeneration; the second was before an arch of triumph representing the women of 5 and
6 October 1789 with cannon and laurel crowns.
monarchy and feudalism were thrown on to an immense fire beside an effigy of Liberty carry
ing a pike and wearing a bonnet. Next stop was the Invalides opposite a colossal statue represent
46
the Roman Republic: "Brutus, we swear to fol low thy example, to maintain the Republic one and indivisible. No more kings, no more impos tors, liberty forever, liberty or death!" The festivals included such popular features as trees of liberty and bonfires, as well as sans culotte symbols such as the Phrygian bonnet and the pike. They proclaimed a political and social messagethe unity of the country. The festival of 10 August 1793 in Paris, commemorating the popular insurrection of 1792 which had brought about the fall of the
In spite of their official aspect and, in some cases, their obscure symbolism, the national festivals were a great popular success, above all in the towns and cities. Opposing superstition with reason, they made it possible to weld
LAURENCE COUDART,
together the new society by a civic cult which gradually engrafted itself on to the old practices.
But in rural France the Fte-Dieu, the festival of
St. John and the patron saints were still celebrat ed and retained the pagan character which they had had long before the Revolution.
PORTRAIT
"The political and journalistic world can boast of very few heroes who compare with Father Damien ofMolokai. It is worthwhile to look for the source of such heroism."
GANDHI
perfunctory. The risk of contracting leprosy increased as the years went by. Damien, who
made little attempt to protect himself, eventually succumbed to it. His own physical suffering was his way of sharing that of the people
around him, and he said that it was nothing compared to the frustration he felt before the
lepers. He died on Molokai Island a quarter of a century later, after contracting leprosy himself. In the mid-nineteenth century, Protestant
and Roman Catholic missions, as well as sizeable minorities of Americans and Chinese, settled
take turns to work on Molokai Island, thus en
among the Kanaka people of the kingdom of Hawaii. This influx of people not only brought
new ideas and resources to the islands, it also led
suring that missionaries would always be present there but would not have to endure a long un broken stay in such a terrible environment.
De Veuster, who had taken the name of
lack of understanding on the part of the religious authorities, not to mention the incessant political and doctrinal quarrels which followed him to his grave.
But news of his struggle spread and his
work became widely appreciated. His fame
crossed the Pacific and he received moral and
financial support which helped him to care for his lepers and to extract long-awaited sanitary
and humanitarian measures from the authorities.
of all, leprosy. In the hundred years between 1770 and 1870, the Kanaka population, which proved to be terribly vulnerable to these diseases, plum
meted from 250,000 to 50,000.
He developed a popular liturgy for the celebra tion of marriages and for processional use.
He took an interest in the material as well as
The eyes of the world turned in compassion to this remote island. Once synonymous with
horror, the name of Molokai came to evoke a new
the 1860s a policy of isolating those afflicted was introduced, not only because of the fear of con
tagion, but because leprosy was such a disfig uring disease that the authorities were afraid of spoiling the archipelago's beautiful, peaceful and prosperous image. Before long, those showing the first symptoms were being systematically rounded up and isolated on a peninsula of Molokai Island. The Catholic missions were especially
concerned about the fate of the lepers. In 1873
the spiritual aspects of life at Molokai and, respectful of Hawaiian customs and lifestyles, did his best to help develop the scarce local resources, notably by putting pressure on the government. In addition to his pastoral duties, Damien performed a great service to the lepers by reminding them of their sense of dignity and treating them as human beings whose lives were important, and whose sufferings, efforts, and
struggle against death had meaning and nobility.
challenge for humanitythat of vanquishing leprosy while respecting the dignity of those afflicted with it. Damien became the symbol of this challenge.
In 1889, the year of Father Damien's death,
a fund was established in his memory in London, under the patronage of the Prince of Wales. The
inauguration of the fund, the forerunner of the British Leprosy Relief Association (LEPRA), was
47
As promised, we are
reinstating our
"Letters to the Editor"
column featuring
readers' comments,
mailbag is concerned
with reactions to the
One of the lessons of history has been that too much haste in labelling
a standpoint or a literature as univer
qualify Alain Flnkielkraut's argument In his article "Sieys, Herder, Goethe: Universality and national identity" in your June 1989 issue.
The conflict between the universal
who fought all his life against illusions of universality (while defending, with
a keen critical sense, a true universa
Mulhouse (France)
An addition to my library
them
tried
and
condemned
by
magazine?
All the same, I remain a faithful
human diversity"...
Orleans (France)
Bagneux (France)
No to commercial pressures I am disappointed by the new for mula: it's only a copy, on heavier
about, ideally and gradually, when each one of us each people, each
individualcan first be himself or her
paper, of many other magazines on the market. I preferred the old for
mat, perhaps because it was slightly
old-fashioned, whence its originality.
When purely
dealing
with
universal
cultures, it's a shame to give in to the commercial considerations which have imposed a dictatorship on
magazines in the last few years. I have already cancelled my subs
the judicious choice of subjectmatter. I hope you will continue to follow this path.
Gilbert Gassmann
If nineteenth-century philosophy
Doubtless It was a good rhetorical ploy for Alain Finkielkraut to transmit his message of universal by means of historical examples. But that is no reason why his examples should not be relevant. The injustice he commits with
truth.
Pierre Pnisson
Paris
Pines (France)
in its presentation. I'm reserving jud gement as far as the Courier is con cerned until my current subscription
expires.
Lucette Perrin
regard to
Herder, through
Decazeville (France)
\ s**
!Rp
'Bleu Soleil'
UNICEF
ever. Their universality will, I hope, help to bring peoples closer together
and build a better future for
mankind.
Jacques Pare Neuilly-en-Thelle (France)
greetings cards
al,
scientific
and
humanitarian
"North" and
contacts
between
"South",
authentic
musicians,
Bravo for the magazine's "shake-up"! I much appreciate the new presenta
tion, illustrations and additional infor
mation for the reader.
(France)
between wanting more children and limiting the birthrate, at the national and the world level, s a subject that needs covering in greater depth. Another important theme which
the Unesco Courier could tackle as
points, often to be found in banks and post offices as well as in shops and stores throughout the
world. A free catalogue and further information
part of its mission is the development of a society based on the best kind
of education and science, human
need for cultural and scientific rap prochement between men, in a spirit
of human solidarity. Let us not forget the prophetic words of Amadou
goes up in flames."
Guy Roque
Hampate B:
Grand-Quevilly (France)
Marseilles (France)
49
PHOTO CREDITS
Cover, pages 3 (above left), 8, 38 (above
& below), 40 (above), 41 (above): L.
Hartwell Sygma, Paris. Pages 10-11: Hug Explorer, Paris. Pages 12-13 (above): Le Naviose CampagneCampagne, Paris. Page Unesco/Georges Servar; 13 (above): (below):
January
THE FRAGILE FOREST. The sacred tree (J. Brosse). Why we need forests. The relentless march of deforestation;
Towards a Green Revolution in forestry; The fuelwood crisis (S. Postel and L. Heise). Arboreal oddities. Farming the
forest (M. Hadley). Sustainable use of tropical forests (I. Muul). The Christianization of Kievan Russia: Millennium celebrations (Metropolitan Juvenaly).
Rapho, Paris; (below left): E. Linder Rnpho, Paris. Pages 16-17: Ousseynou
Sarr, Paris. Page 18: Le Soleil, Dakar.
February
INDIA. 5,000 years of Indian culture (V.S. Naravane). Makers of modern India (S. Gopal). Indian cinema (K. Mohamed). A new policy for education (A. Bordia). India's lifeline (A. Jung). Rural development (S.B. Roy). The philosophical tradition. Fairs and festivals. The scientific legacy. Project Tiger (R. Singh). The anger of the sea-goddess (T.S. Pillai).
March
Monastery ofthe East. The drawing ofwater: Description ofthe penitential gathering ofthe
second month at the Pavilion of the Second
A SILKEN BOND BETWEEN EAST AND WEST (A.H. Dani). Mihai Eminescu: Romania's national poet. Decoding Hafez' mystic message (R. Feiz). Hafez and the golden age of Persian literature (C.-H. de Fouchcour). The once and future revolution (M. Agulhon). The mermaid of the Dniester (O. Petrash). Pollution unlimited (F. Bequette). Rediscovering "The Islands of the Moon" (A. Libioulle). Educational planners go back to school.
Moon,
by
Ohga Tetsuo,
APN,
and I.
Shgakhan,
Page
April CAMES AND THE PORTUGUESE VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY. The dawn of a new age (L.F. Barreto). Of
caravels and cartographers... (L. de Albuquerque). Japan in early Portuguese maps (A.P. Marques). Luis de Cames, Portugal's great epic poet (V. Graa Moura). The Lusiads (E. Loureno). Cames and Brazil (J. de Souza Montello). Rivalry in the Red Sea (Ibn Iyas). The Portuguese in India (J. Correia Afonso). Portuguese art in the maritime era (R. de Faria
D. Moreira). Fernando Pessoa and the spirit of discovery (JA. Seabra).
Y.Somov
Paris.
Zotov
34:
May
MODERN MANUSCRIPTS. The written word... (L.S. Senghor) ... A fragile heritage (JC. Langlois). Libraries to the rescue (G. Cartier). Microwaves that save manuscripts (D. Sergent). France's Bibliothque Nationale, a library in action (F. Callu). From the world's archives. The quest for authenticity (G. Tavani). The Archives Collection, a laboratory for the future (A. Segala). Literary detection and Latin American writing (F. Ainsa). The birth of a language (R.B. Saguier). A thousand years of Catalan history (F. Vallverd), Romanesque treasures of Catalonia (E. Carbonell i Esteller). Gaudi
and Dal, the art of excess (D. Giralt-Miracle).
Izobrazitelnoe
Iskusstvo,
Samuel Costa Explorer, Paris. Pages 42-43, 44 (above), 45 (above), 46: Bulloz, Muse Carnavalet, Paris. Page 44 (below): Bulloz, Bibliothque
Nationale, Paris. Page 45 (below): Bulloz, Paris. Page 47: The Friends of
Father Damien, Brussels.
June
1789: AN IDEA THAT CHANGED THE WORLD. Interview with Franois Mitterrand, President of the French
Republic. The Republic's citizens of honour (E. Naraghi). Tom Paine: the antimonarchist who tried to save a king (J. Lessay). In the Antilles, "Liberty for All" (Y. Benot). The eagle and the sphinx: Bonaparte in Egypt (M. Hussein). Sieys, Herder, Goethe: universality and national identity (A. Finkielkraut). The Republican dream (Simn Bolvar). Poetry, freedom and revolution (S.S. Averintsev). Chomin: the Rousseau of the East (Shin'ya Ida). China: rethinking the Revolution (Zhilian Zhang). The spirit of '89 (T. Ben Jelloun). An idea and its destiny (F. Furet).
July
THE FAMILY. Interview with Jorge Amado. Nineteenth-century Russia: hearth, home and rural community (H. YvertJalu). Ancient China: the empire of the ancestors (Qi Yanfen). Africa: lines of descent (M.B. Priso). The Middle East and North Africa: the future of the family. The changing Japanese family (Kurimoto Kazuo). Europe: Marina, Sarah, Michel and Jean (A. Michel). Latin America: the women of Arembepe (M. de Athayde Figueiredo and D. Prado). Quebec: new family structures (F. Descarries and C. Corbeil). A visit to an Uzbek family (C. Fournier). Africa's "wonder weed".
August
STREETSCAPES. Interview with Richard Attenborough. Berlin: the Friedrichstrasse, a link in the chain of history (C. Mengin). Tokyo: a city of towers and traditions (S. Zarmati). Bogota: a trip along the Sptima (A. Berty). Abidjan: a colourful kaleidoscope (P. Haeringer). Moscow: Gorky Street, fifty years of change (A. Kopp). Cairo: in the heart of an ancient capital (A. Bonnamy). Houston: highways in the city (B. Ouvry-Vial). Beijing: the street of the glazed tile factory (P. Clement). Under the roofs of Paris (A.-M. Chatelet). Families of the world (H. Tremblay). International
co-operation in space (D. Spurgeon).
September
GREAT EPICS. Interview with Jean-Claude Carrire: the Mahabharata, Great History of Mankind. The poet's tale (M. Hussein). Gilgamesh, the king who did not wish to die (J. Bottro). Aeneas, Rome's man of destiny (J. -P. Brisson). The Epic of the Kings (N. Tadjadod). llya the invincible (H. Yvert-Jalu). The Secret History of the Mongols (S. Bira). The Mahvamsa, Sri Lanka's non-stop epic (A.W.P. Gurug). Shaka Zulu, a living legend (K.I. Bosco). Knights of the Far
West (G.N. Granville). Mapping the human genome (J. Richardson).
October
STRANGERS ON THE SCREEN. Interview with Jean Lacouture: Champollion, a heio of the Enlightenment. Creatures
from inner space (C. Aziza). Macunama, the eternal outsider (A. Rodrigues). Germans screened through French eyes (R. Prdal). An Orient of myth and mystery (A. Fahdel). Tristan and Pavlova through the looking glass (M. Fellous).
Behind the veil (A. Djebar). Charlie Chaplin, stranger and brother (M. Oms). "Slaves of one man": the American Indian
in 17th- and 18th-century French literature (C. de Grandpr). Understanding global change (A.M. Clayson).
November
preparation of our
October issue,
A MATHEMATICAL MYSTERY TOUR. Interview with Federico Mayor, Director-General of Unesco. Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia: prime numbers 0- Ritter). India: Lilavati, gracious lady of arithmetic (F. Zimmermann). China: H in the sky (J.-C. Martzloff). Ancient Greece: the Odyssey of reason (B. Vitrac). The Arab world: where geometry and algebra intersect (R. Rashed). From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment: the roots of modern maths (C. Goldstein and J. Gray). Gabriela Mistral, poet and humanist. An Academy of Sciences for the Third World (A.M. Faruqui).
December
Strangers on the
Screen.
50
HIGH DAYS AND HOLIDAYS. Interview with Najib Mahfouz. The festive spirit (J- Duvignaud). Mock lion and real heroes (M. Seek). Skeletons at the feast (J. Prez Siller). The Pavilion of the Second Moon (L. Caillet). Farewell to winter (H. Yvert-Jalu). Samba time! (S. Alves Teixeira). Liberty, Equality, Festivity! (L. Coudart). Father Damien,
citizen of the world.
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NO 12
1989
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1 -475 A
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This issue comprises 54 pages and a 4-page advertising insert between pages 10-11 and 42-43
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