Wendt and Kühn 2014 Eleven Dot Post
Once a year Wendt and Kühn publishes their Eleven Dot Post - the magazine from their Workshops in Grunhainichen, Germany.
We thought you would enjoy reading this special publication celebrating the classic Wendt and Kühn Angels.
Among other things, this years edition has wonderful photographs of the intricate construction of their Angels, both on the cover and inside.
My Growing Traditions carries an extensive selection of Wendt and Kühn figures. Enjoy!
The Woman with a Bundle of Sticks – the Eighteenth (18th) Essential Santon for a Provençal Creche
The Woman with a Bundle of Sticks – Femme au fagots (French) – La Vieio au balus de bos (Provençaux) is number 18 on the list of the top 20 Essential Santons for a Provençal Creche.
The French word fagots is also spelled faggots and means a bundle of twigs, sticks, or branches bound together. Carbonel represents the carrier of fagots as an Old Woman and/or an Old Man, both with their backs hunched, indicative of their age and station in life. The humblest of humanity, they are symbols of poverty. Wood is not plentiful in Provence, so those in need eke out the most modest living, gathering and selling every twig they can to be used for kindling.
The old woman, called Misere, and also known as the Woodcutter's Wife, La Bouscatiero (Provençaux), walks with the aid of a stick.
She is often seen as accompanied by her husband, the Man with a Bundle of Sticks (Homme au fagots - French; Woodcutter, Lou Bouscatie - Provençaux), his trousers patched, a small bundle in his hand.
They share their happiness at the birth of Christ, presenting their modest gift - a bundle of twigs for a fire to keep the Christ Child warm.
Celebrating Christmas Traditions - Apple's Christmas Ad wins 2014 Creative Arts Emmy
This wonderful, touching, ad from Apple epitomizes the meaningfulness of every family's Christmas traditions. Enjoy!
The Woman Spinning Wool – the Seventeenth (17th) Essential Santon for a Provençal Creche
The Woman Spinning Wool - La Fileuse (French) – La Fielarello (Provençaux) is number 17 on the list of the top 20 Essential Santons for a Provençal Creche. It is common for her to be represented in the Santons world as either a young or an old woman. Carbonel has created both.
She is associated historically in Provence with the process of filature, and reeling threads of silk from a cocoon, i.e., as the "Reeling Girl, or Woman."
"In the 18th and 19th centuries Provence experienced a boom in sericulture that would last until the First World War, with much of the silk produced being shipped north to Lyon. Viens and La Bastide-des-Jourdans are two of the communes of Luberon that profited the most from mulberry plantations that have since disappeared.[34] Working at home under the domestic system, silk spinning and silk treatment employed many people and increased the income of the working class." - Wikipedia
Carbonel's older spinner works at a separate, wooden (depicted in clay of course) spinning wheel - Fileuse au rouet, available in Sizes #2 and #1.
The Fisherman - the Sixteenth (16th) Essential Santon for a Provençal Creche
The Fisherman is number 16 on the list of the top 20 Essential Santons for a Provençal Creche. He is a pivotal figure in Provence, whether he works with his nets in the sea, or, as an angler, casting his pole into a local stream. As a Santon, his origin is in the early nativity plays and creche-parlant. Foremost, he is a classic figure of the Port of Marseille and its very important fishing trade of the Mediterranean. Fish, whether freshwater or from the sea, are basic to the Provençal diet. The Carbonel Santons workshop has created variations of each.
The Fishermen of the sea are represented by the Fisherman with a net - Pécheur au filet (French) - Lou Pescadou (Provençaux), available in all 4 sizes.
and the Octopus Fisherman - Pécheur au poulpe, in Size #3
They wear a seaman's jersey, have the trousers rolled up to their knees, wear red cotton caps on their heads, and are barefoot.
The Fishermen of freshwater are represented by the Angler – Pêcheur à la ligne (French) - Lou Pescaire (Provençaux), available in all 4 sizes.
and the Seated Fisherman – Pêcheur Assis, in Sizes #2 and #1
These two seated anglers are perfect to place by the side of a stream, or next to the bridge.
Of course, one cannot think of the Fisherman without thinking of the Fishwife - number 14 of the top 20 essential Santons.
Frederic Mistral, a Provençal poet, a winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1904), and a champion of the Occitan language (of which Provençaux is a dialect) of southern France, famously celebrated the Provencal fisherman in his epic poem of 1867, Calendal. In creating Calendal (the word "Calendula" is the Provençaux equivalent of "Noel" and was commonly given to each child born on Christmas Day), an anchovy fisherman from Cassis, Mistral invented "the Christmas fisherman." Calendal conquers monumental tasks, including inventing "ingenious fishing devices to bring all the fish of the sea into the port..." to win over his sweetheart, half-princess/half-fairy, Esterelle, a descendant of the Lord of Baux. The poem, a tribute to Provence, put Cassis on the map and sealed the importance of the Santon Fisherman. Calendal is commemorated in a statue by the harbor made of limestone from Cassis. As Mistral is often quoted: "He who has seen Paris and not Cassis has seen nothing."
Provençal legend tells us that before making his way to the manger, the fisherman first had to catch a fish to take as his gift. He "spent the night on the river, casting in vain. The water was cold and his hands were freezing,... A friend along the riverbank shouted the news of the Christ Child's birth. When a great trout overheard...." (Foley, p. 115) he took the bait deliberately, not to be left behind those wanting to see Jesus. Thus, the fisherman was able to successfully present the gift of his trade to the Christ Child.
Celebrate Easter with Wendt and Kühn
We now have in stock five charming, colorful, and impeccably painted German Wendt and Kühn figures to add to your Easter traditions. They add a wonderful touch to your Easter table.
The Girl with a Basket filled with Eggs and carrying a bunny
is delightfully paired with the Boy with an Easter Egg
Each is 2-1/2 inches tall.
The Easter Rabbit - Bunny - 3/4" tall - is available separately
and with two other special Wendt and Kühn figures:
a Marguerite Angel with Bunny Rabbit and Carrots
and a member of the Spring Flower Children (Blossom Kinder), The Girl with a Snowdrop and Bunny
All your Wendt and Kuehn purchases from My Growing Traditions will now come in a Wendt and Kuhn gift (presentation box), just to add that special touch to these special German works of art.
Visit our Pinterest board on Wendt and Kuhn angels for our collection of photos All things Wendt and Kuehn.
The Hunter - the Fifteenth (15th) Essential Santon for a Provençal Creche
The Hunter- Le Chasseur (French) – Lou Cassaire (Provençaux) is number 15 on the list of the top 20 Essential Santons for a Provencal Creche. He is available in all four Marcel Carbonel Santons sizes.
He hunts the low, soft-leafed, scrublands of Provence - the "garrigues." His outfit is classic: a natty jacket, a broad-brimmed black hat and boots, his gun in one hand, a rabbit in the other, and his game-bag over his shoulder.
Like the infamous fisherman's yarn of the one who got away, the hunter spins his own tall tales and boasts of his exploits in his never-ending efforts to bag the perfect rabbit. It is a rabbit, or a hare, or perhaps a skewer of birds, that he brings as his gift to the Christ Child.
According to Daniel Foley, it was Santonnier Leon Simon (1845-1916) who introduced the hunter to the Santons creche.
For photos of the history and workshop of Carbonel enjoy our Marcel Carbonel Santons board on Pinterest.
