A new medieval meeting in the 47. The weekend of April 9 and 10 takes place the first medieval festival of Dondas, at a place called Le Fau.
On the program: medieval camp, crafts and demonstration of old trades, archery, ax throwing, poliorcetic combat, knight, witch or even magician. At the organization, Cyril Smolak, 47, blacksmith and country storyteller. He tells us why the event.
Before talking about the event, can you briefly introduce yourself?
Cyril Smolak : I am a country storyteller, specializing in the Middle Ages. I’ve been doing medieval for a very long time, when exactly, I don’t know. That is to say that I lead workshops in fairs, I intervene in schools, I make presentations on everything related to the Middle Ages: forging, weapons, armor, papermaking and ink, the tools of the great builders.
Are you a specialist in the Middle Ages specializing in the daily life of the people?
That’s it. I’m not interested in anything related to lordship. It’s already done in class and in the films, we only see lords and knights, I’m interested in the little people, let’s say. It was 90% of the population.
How did this project get started ?
There is no more animation in my geographical area in this area, I bought land that will be used for historical animations. The first will be a medieval festival. The project has been in my head for five years.
Should we expect an event similar to the Médiévales de Monflanquin?
I don’t want to look like Les Médiévales de Monflanquin. In the 47, there are two large medieval ones in Monflanquin and Bruch. I don’t want to go into their state of mind at all, they have become dealer markets. I only bring in craftsmen who produce the products on site. It’s really craftsmanship, they’re not resellers. Medieval towns have lost their soul over the past ten years or so.
Tell us about the people who will host the event.
There will be about fifty speakers. Different medieval troupes are coming, there will also be a magician and a lot of ancient trades will be represented: the leather trades, a haubergier, who makes chain mail, an herbalist… There will also be medieval cuisine. There will be cooking dishes, a huge rotisserie and a bread oven. We’ll eat deer that weekend.
It is also a question of poliorcetic combat. What is it about ?
It is the art of besieging and defending a siege. There will be war machines, two or three at scale 1. Also, there will be functional models. We bring in a person specialized in poliorcetics who will tell how the siege weapons work. Demonstrations with the models to show how they fired will be carried out.
Do you foresee other medieval meetings on this site?
Yes. I will propose immersion. It will be for the day or over several days for works councils. The county council and Upsa are interested. It will be focused on the Middle Ages, people will arrive on Friday evening or Saturday morning. We put everything that is contemporary object: cigarettes and electronic cigarettes, watch, laptop, etc. I have a program for the weekend, or the week if the furious want to stay longer, during which we will live as we lived in the Middle Ages.
