Lost in translation? Shine bright like a Dolmen! Yes well this is all I could come up with...
For those who don't know much about Brittany and its folklore, I tried to gather below some info for you to embrace the biguden experience!
Beautiful Breizh
Breizh: breton name of Brittany, region from Nort-western France, you know the smaller but wonderful Britain..!
Finistère (land's end): breton department of the Britanny region where the bigouden area is, called in French pays bigouden or bigoudénie.
The region is actually quite big and gather as many communities as you can find ingredients for a crepe!
biguden: bigoudène in phonetics!
A bigoudène???
bigouden: breton name of the hat the women wear in the area.
Some say the bigouden women (bigoudènes) increased the height of their hat in a sign of rebellion as Louis XIV decided to detroy all the bell towers following riots againts new taxes.
The hat became a symbol of courage and pride not only for their community but for the entire Brittany region! You can find many representations of the biguden women on breton products and folklore.
Menhir and Dolmen do exist
Well bigoudenes are exceptional women but do not carry menhirs on their back like Obelix ...
Dolmen and menhir: we are not so sure of the origin of the names, some say they are breton, dolmen meaning stone table and menhir meaning long stone.
You can find many of them in the area, a testimony of the great history of our region!
Some sites reveal crucial information about our ancestors such as fire marks that can be traced back to 500 000 BC in Pors Poulhan.
If you are not so much into history, you can still enjoy the beauty of the stones!
Map illustrations source from Daniel Dalet
biguden illustrations from Patricia Herbault