Père Pinard or the wine of the hairy : During the First World War he was personified… Far from the image we have today !
There are many slang words for wine : du jaja, du jinjin, you pitchegorne, du picolo, of picrate, du picton, pif, du pive, of the peony, redhead… But among these many words there is one that has a real story behind. Pinard has a history linked to the First World War where it was the wine of the hairy people who gave it its hour of glory by designating it as "Saint Pinard" or "Père Pinard".
Father Pinard, symbol of france
During the World War One, the wine personified in "Père Pinard" was the symbol of the sacred union around the "Hairy" defenders of the Fatherland - facing the land of beer —. At the time, everyone agreed the war was going to be short. In the month of August 1914, many mobilized thought they had returned for the harvest. There are many who will no longer harvest.
If wine overproduction is generally synonymous with crisis, the winemaker of the past, however, liked his vines to be generous. In Beaujolais, the "Pisse-Dru" recalls that the grapes must release their juice in abundance. This abundance made the "hairy" of 14/18 and the popular fortune of the word "pinard" although of unknown origin. It can come from the Greek word "pino" which means to drink or formed in the 17th century from the name of the grape variety "pinot". Authors link his origin to Jean Pinard who in the 17th century represented for the Burgundians the archetype of the winegrower.
Wine was the trench companion of the hairy throughout the Great War. It sometimes happened that the hairy people shaved with wine to save the water that ran out. French soldiers frequently used the word pinard. Even General Joffre, who was a cooper's son, personified wine under the name of General Pinard, the only one able to maintain the morale of the combatants. The comfort of drunkenness allowed many soldiers to forget the death that awaited exiting the trenches.
The wine, it's stillage !
The word pinard has unfortunately become pejorative since it designates and denotes ordinary wine, also called "picrate" by the soldiers - referring to the pungent vapors of picric acid given off by shells —. Wine has become a character in its own right : Father Pinard who comforts the soldier has become Saint Pinard, the patron saint of the hairy. Many songs praise him : La Madelon, Rosalie, Ode au Pinard or Vive le Pinard. "Pinard is stillage, it feels good wherever it goes, you go-and bidasse, fill my quarter, long live the wine ! long live the wine ! "
Guillaume Apollinaire, who fought in the war as a gunner shared this opinion, "I have like you, to comfort me the quarter of wine which makes so many differences between us and the koats ”. Like any soldier, he knew the code for drinking shots : a stroke of 75, and they were drinking a cannon ; a stroke of 105, and it's a pint that they were dropping ; a stroke of 121 court, we went to a liter of pure wine ; for a 120 long, they drank a good liter of wet wine. The French soldiers made fun of the Germans who had to empty "their Verdun trait" given the bursts of buses sent by the French camp.
The winegrowers take part in the war
The winegrowers of the Midi had participated very early in the war effort since from August 1914, they offered no less than 200’000 hectoliters to soldiers. In 1916, the army ordered it 6 million hectoliters and double in 1917. The quantities of wine distributed to the soldiers changed each year from 25 cl en 1914, to 50 cl en 1916 then 75 cl of wine in 1917. Men from all over the country became great consumers of wine. It was the same for the French language which developed after the war in the countryside where the dialect dominated before the war.. Wine, like the french language, has become a symbol of national unity.
It is important to have a finish
Some polishticians and journalists demanded that Dad Pinard either cited to the order of the Nation for having participated, to his way, to the victory of the France against schnapps allemand.
After all that, will you keep saying wine to talk about a bad wine? ? Not so sure…
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