The stilt-walking shepherds of France's grasslands, 1843-1937 | Hacker News Reader

The stilt-walking shepherds of France's grasslands, 1843-1937

rarehistoricalphotos.com

104 pointsZeljkoS24 comments

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 :)

We had these stilt races in the UK too, at least at my school anyway. This was circa mid 70s

Were they also used in the UK countryside ?

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?

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.

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

I don't get how reach the conclusion that the aristocrats lacked awareness because they held stilt marathons to celebrate the tradition?

Well, they destroyed the tradition by foresting the area.

I'm not sure awareness of the social plights of the oppressed underclass was a big hallmark of early 19th century aristocrats.

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".

While you describe a general trend, this does not seem to apply here. The initiative vastly improved quality of life for the local population. While we might romanticism stilt-walking shepherds, that is an incredibly harsh and difficult life.

The forestation project improved longevity and allowed the area to build other sectors and to integrate with the wider economy and society. I'm sure if you reforest the Sahara some will lose their livelihoods but it also would have many benefits for many people.

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...

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?

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

"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?

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

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.

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

How often do they use these compared to the shepherds, I wonder… seemingly not long enough to carry around a resting staff?

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.).

Electricians and plasterers often work with stilts on construction sites (in Europe at least).

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=electrician+stilts

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. :)

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.

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....

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