Perigordine culture is part of the Occitan linguistic sphere at the junction of the Limousin and Languedoc dialects spoken by the majority of the population until the 1950s. The French language eventually imposed itself in Perigord through the local elites, the republican school and the obsolescence of the written Occitan. Faced with this decline of the Occitan language, several regeneration movements were born.
On the model of the literary movement of the Félibrige carried by Frédéric Mistral in Provence in the middle of the 19th century, Auguste Chastanet founded the Félibréen school of Périgord called Lo Bornat dau Perigòrd in 1901, dedicated to the promotion of the Occitan culture through language, literature and all its cultural events, including the Félibrige.
In 1945, a new movement was founded by Occitanists from the Resistance: the Institut d’estudis occitans and its federations, including the Perigord section Novelum (Renewal in Occitan) created in 1969. This association of linguists, writers, researchers, artists and teachers has been working since then for the regeneration of the Occitan language and identity in the linguistic, cultural, educational, economic and political fields.
From 1970 onwards, a regionalist feeling of rebirth of the Occitan identity spread and advocated a return to the land in a reinvention of the tradition mixing culture, music and of which the most visible aspect was Occitan folk music. Today, these different movements are working together to ensure that Occitan culture is expressed in all fields: literature with Joan Ganhaire for example, contemporary music, rock, electronics, in the cinema and teaching with the escola calandreta pergosina.
Illustrations :
– Group photograph with Auguste Chastanet, majoral of the Félibrige on the left and Frédéric Mistral, founder of the Félibrige in the centre, in Hyères in 1885 (André Voulgre Museum).
– Photographic portrait of Auguste Chastanet (1825-1902 in Mussidan), an Occitan poet, Félibre-majoral appointed by Frédéric Mistral, founder and president of the Bornat dau Perigòrd, an association defending Occitan culture at the beginning of the 20th century, notably through the organisation of the Felibrejada or Félibrée (2008.0.624) (© Musée André Voulgre).
– Poster of the Teatre de Moueissido, Serenado dou Bournat, diluted 19 of jun 1905 on the occasion of the 2nd Félibrée organised in Mussidan. (ADD24 11 Fi 169)
– Photo-card of the actors of the traditional scene played for the 1905 Félibrée in Mussidan: the lengo de la Susilho. (© Musée André Voulgre)
– Photograph of the Taulada or meal of the Félibrée of 1929 in Mussidan with the Mussidanese poet Henriette Colombet in the centre of the table in the foreground. (© Musée André Voulgre)
– Poster of the 1st Félibrée de Mareuil of 1903 (Private collection)
– Poster of the 2nd Mussidan Felibree of 1905 (Private Collection)
– Poster of the 18th Félibrée de Périgueux of 1927 (Private Collection)
– Poster of the 20th Félibrée de Mussidan of 1929 (© Musée André Voulgre)
– Poster of the 78th Félibrée de Villefranche de Lonchat of 1997 (2013.16.2.0) (© Musée André Voulgre)
– Poster of the Félibrée de Mussidan of 2005 (©Musée André Voulgre)
– Postcards of the alleys of lime trees with the bust of Auguste Chastanet in the 1920s. (© Musée André Voulgre)
– Photograph of one of the gates of the town of Saint Astier during the Félibrée of 1939 (Private collection in Hervé Mercier, Saint-Astier, 1900-1950, volume 2, La vie Astérienne, Imprimerie IOTA, 2015).
– Current logo of Lo Bornat dau Perigòrd.
– Poster of the festival of occitan songs of May 29th 1980 in Périgueux (Collection Francis Gervaise)
– Photograph of a vigil organised by the I.E.O. with « Los Velhadors de Rabeirac » in Tocane Saint Apre in 1978. (Collection Francis Gervaise)
– Photograph of a vigil organised by the I.E.O. with « Los Velhadors dau Novelum » at Saint Sulpice de Roumagnac in 1977. (Collection Francis Gervaise)
– Cover of the 1978 Raiç LP LP of the Perigordine group Peiraguda, produced under the Ventadorn label. This group was also programmed in the evenings proposed by the I.E.O. (Collection Francis Gervaise).
– Sleeve of the LP LP LP of the Perigordine group Peiraguda from May to May 1986 produced under the label Production 31. (Collection Francis Gervaise)
– Cover of the 33 rpm LP Crocatz Lo Peiregord circa 1975 by Joan Frances Latornaria, an Occitan singer from Neuvic sur l’Isle, produced under the Edicions Revolum label. (Collection Francis Gervaise)
– Photograph by Bernard Lesfargues (1924-2018), academic and poet celebrating Occitan, pioneering translator of Occitan, Spanish, Catalan and Italian, early member of the I.E.O. and militant editor of a federalist Europe. (Collection Jean-Claude Dugros)
– Cover of the magazine Novelum de la sección Peiregòrda of the Institut d’Estudis Occitans in the 1970s. The IEO offered Occitan vigils in which the Perigordine groups of Peiraguda, Los Velhadors de Rabeirac in particular, appeared. (Collection Francis Gervaise)
– Current logo of the IEO Perigord section.