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| the song of the forest |
follow on Franco-German TV station ARTE, a program entitled Cuisine des terroirs.
understand perhaps twenty percent of what is said, nevertheless, I followed with great curiosity.
it is a very short documentary series, in which, running the length and breadth of Europe, we focus in turn on a very limited area, a small corner of the world, a microcosm.
and you enter in the kitchens of those who live there.
I really like the fact that those choices are in simple houses of ordinary people, where the cameras are cooked for local dishes, often related to seasonal period where you are. through the plates and the history of the people who cook them, then you leave the house, to describe the landscape around her and its traditions.
this preamble, to say that one of the documentaries I was most impressed (so much that I then revised in reply) entered the homes of the inhabitants of a remote village in the canton of Uri.
Gwuest, is the name of the village, is located in the heart of the Swiss Alps and is home to no more than thirty people. in winter, the only road to the valley, is interrupted for months. the only way he can follow it is kind of a snowmobile with an enclosed cab, but that is only used when strictly necessary.
the inhabitants are thus, from ancient times, used to live in those long months, their self: what they have grown and stored during the warmer months, the food becomes of their winter.
as well as they are accustomed to travel on skis and snowshoes.
and life in the village runs clean and simple, in perpetual harmony with the seasons and what they offer. even when it is the constant danger of avalanches, which are constantly monitored by the inhabitants.
Gwuest children, attending the first school years in the village, where the teacher, who is also an aunt, and who always took care of this, do their lessons. then when they are older, to continue his studies, will go down, and there spend the school year.
and so Gwuest, you empty it further.
but there is no atmosphere of sadness among houses and among the people.
the great cooperation, and life in the midst of these natural wonders made by mountains, forests, meadows, snow, full acceptance of that state of things, ensure that spend the winter in harmony, including short works in the barn or outside , long walks on skis, lunch or dinner together.
the weekend the boys back then. sometimes with a few guests made up of friends or relatives who no longer live in the village.
to start on Sunday afternoon, well before the sun drops.
and this is where I wanted to arrive.
because today is Sunday.
we are in the middle of winter.
and just at this time to Gwuest, families greet the children who return to the valley.
there silence all around, the peaks and forests. the day the sun is shining and snow.
boys ski kiss those who remain, and slowly you start on the track that will take them downstream.
without sadness. thinking that after a few days will return. and that those who remain, even takes care to keep their corner of unspoiled beauty.
right now. now.
a last gesture with his hand.
and disappeared behind the curve.
families, brothers, grandparents are a bit 'to watch.
then each returns to its activities.
while the woods began to climb in the evening.
images appear in a movie, right?
the story of an impossible world.
yet to Gwuest is how things go.
why I wanted to tell.
choosing to do so at the very moment they happen.
***
is so small and unimportant village Gwuest that I could not find any images online. So I left that to represent a painting of mine that was somewhat reminiscent of those atmospheres.
but this is the link to ART on Cuisine des terroirs.
clicking on the map the orange dot in the center of Switzerland, you can find the summary of the documentary, recipes, cooked, and some pictures of the people of Gwuest.
