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Sun Worship 27
In his memoirs tlie Councillor states that it was he
who imagined and caused this festival to be performed,
and that he did so in order to impose upon the credulity
of Baron Ladoucette, who, as he knew, was then com-
piling his work. This version of what was, if committed,
a cruel practical joke, has been accepted by MM. Chaper
and J. Roman ;
the
latter, however, qualifies his acceptance
of this view by adding that the oldest inhabitants of Les
Andrieu.x are convinced that their ancestors always celebrated
this fete, and that, of those to whom he spoke, many were
alive in the time of Mons. Ferrand and would in consequence
have been perfectly competent to state whether this ceremony
only took its rise under his administration. On the other
hand, Elisee Reclus, in his Gdographie Universelle, speaks
of this festival as a very ancient one. Baron Ladoucette's
story runs as follows :
—
" On the banks of the river Severaise, in that portion
of the High Alps which was formerly called the Godemar
valley, is a little hamlet called Les Andrieux.
" During the space of one hundred days in winter the
inhabitants of this valley do not see the sun. Only on the
loth of February is this orb once more visible to them, there-
fore on this particular day, as soon as dawn appears, four
shepherds make the round of the village, and by sounding
pipes and trumpets, they announce to the inhabitants that the
festival is about to commence. They then go to the house
of the oldest inhabitant of that place, who, under the tide of
Le Vdndrable, presides at the ceremony of saluting the return
of the sun.
"At 10 A.M. all the villagers, each provided with an