LANGUAGES IN FEUFLIÂZHE
The name of the festival and its motto are in Savoyard patois. This dialect belongs to the group of Francoprovencal languages that is also called Arpitan.
The Alpine Arc crosses many countries and is mainly divided into three major linguistic regions: the Germanic language in the North, the Occitan language in the South and the Francoprovençal in the middle. The Vallée Verte is lucky to be at the geographical center of the Alpine Arc; so, it is easier to bring music groups from the three zones and create encounters between musicians and spectators. At the Feufliazhe, we can hear a lot of different dialects and accents! It is also in the center of the linguistic region of the Francoprovençal, which extends from Val d'Aosta in Italy, to Valais and all French-speaking cantons in Switzerland, and which includes the two Savoies, Jura, Franche-Comté, Dauphiné in France until Lyon in the south.That is why the name and motto of the festival is in Savoyard, a language that many singers understand, who are still (or again) singing in Arpitan.
Vni pi écoutâ, shantâ, dyouèyi u danfi ! Come listen, sing, play and dance!
The Feufliâzhe (masculine noun): The "a" with circumflex accent is pronounced closed between the a and the o. The "zh" is pronounced with a whistling on the tongue like the English "th".This is the name of the festival that takes place after the heavy work of fields and alpine pastures, after haymaking, harvesting, making cheeses and going down from the alpine pastures. At his time, farmers were storing the tools for the winter and were participating in big gatherings.The exegetes agree that the name of this festival would come from feufi, "the handle of the scythe", and liazhe, "to bind together". Because, once the blades were attached to the handles (see photos), they were hung in the barn for the cold season and everybody gathered to parties. Marc Bron, a teacher of the Savoyard language, found these words in several Savoyard dictionaries, including the one of Saxel in the Vallée Verte.
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Music has always been very present at this festival which unites all the generations in at the same time, in the same place, with the same spirit of conviviality. Sometimes cheerful, sometimes melancholic, sometimes naughty, it amuses the children, makes the lovers dance, recalls memories to the elders.The date was sometimes advanced in the summer to enjoy the beautiful days longer and give the festival all chances to avoid the rain.
