Salt Notes : The Tournament of the Liars
For centuries, the French village of Moncrabeau has prided itself on its
yearly liar’s festival. Jurors are dressed in medieval costumes, and
contestants appear before them, each one telling a tall tale in the village
square before the assembled crowd. A goat is also present.
At the end of each tale, two children dressed in white present an empty
pouch to each member of the jury. Each juror dips a ladle into a sack of salt
and pours some into the bag, thus evaluating the performance. At the end of
the day, the pouches are weighed, and the heaviest is that of the winner.
An interpretation ?
- Salt was the ‘white gold’ of yesteryear.
- Telling a lie is to invite the Devil, whose presence the goat symbolizes.
- The precious white grains are both sacrificial and a token of purification.