The Plougastel Museum,
in English !
Welcome to the museum of Plougastel
The adventure of this museum began in 1980 with the creation of the association Les Amis du patrimoine de Plougastel (Plougastel heritage friends association) a group of people passionately fond of local history. Moreover they succeeded in gathering a great number of the inhabitants of the peninsula.
After numerous stages the museum eventually opened in 1991 and in 1995 it took the name of Museum of strawberry and heritage.
For over 30 years now the association has been going on gathering objects, traditional costumes, artworks to expend its collections. It’s also a way to pass on know-how and make this unique heritage accessible to visitors.
Between 2024 and 2025 Brest Métropole renovated the building and changed the scenography. Thanks to these works we can now welcome you in a more modern museum with more play activities. The museum has become le Musée du Pays Plougastel. It recounts the history of Plougastel from its origins to the 20th century. Please discover on two levels what are the particularisms of this Thousand treasure peninsula.
“Plougastel is like a hand in the sea. A hand with lines of luck and lines of heart."
Bernard de Parades, 1954.
Plougastel-Daoulas throughout centuries
The peninsula presents a remarkable geology, telling us a 500- million - year- old history and shapes our landscapes. The great variety of rocks we find in our soil enabled the creation of various tools, human buildings and a wide range of market gardening in the area. The first remnants of human occupation date back to the early stage of the Azilian period (Mesolithic culture),proven by the archeological research led by Dr Nicolas Naudinot,a professor at the French museum of natural history,under the Shelter found under the “ Rocher de l’impératrice”(UMR 7194 CNRS HNHP).
The discovery of a Roman road, several coins as well as an antique fecundity statue confirms the fact the peninsula was still inhabited during the Gallo-Roman era. Despite the missing parts in the testimonies,and the dispersal of historical records, archives, on this timeline. The parish of PLOE KASTEL was first mentioned during the 6th century. Christianity was established on the territory . The area of Plougastel became an agricultural society, organized around primitive manor houses. Men were called : Plougastell, women Plougastellen .
Bretons from other countries : the birth of Plougastel
On this chronology there is a lack of sources of information about the history of Plougastel. The statue of the god of fertility is one of the oldest testimony of human presence in the peninsula. It shows a local Celtic worship and still practiced during the Gallo-Roman epoch. Probably it was set in a small sanctuary - a fanum - which was at about 200 m away from the Roman road leading to Daoulas. The present place corresponds to the village of La Fontaine Blanche.
During the first councils the Church ordered bishops to destroy pagan idols or Christianize cults of worship already existing. So Numerous saints were then allocated powers and virtues which hitherto belonged to pagan divinities. Water springs associated to these divinities still keep miraculous and sacred properties. Throughout the centuries the statue of the god of fertility was badly damaged either by accident or deliberately. A chapel was built in the village of la Fontaine Blanche and turned a pagan site into a Christian one.
“Even if there are few clues one can think people worshipped this god not only to have children but also to get bountiful harvests and large herds."
J-Y Eveillard, D.Laurent, Y.-P Castel, 1977
Did you know ?
Roman roads were roads built by the Romans or they were part of an already existing network they refitted. They allowed people to reach important places using the shortest way. At the peak of the Roman empire this network spread over 320 000 km (199,000 miles ). It’s one of the symbols of the influence of Rome all over the world.
The god of fecundity
1st century. Kersantite
Found in 1976 next to the chapel Notre Dame de la Fontaine Blanche by a priest named Yves-Pascal Castel. Estimated original height 51 in.
Stuck in the stone, the body of the statue is arched and formerly held in its right hand its erect penis. Round its neck carved in the stone we can see a Gallic necklace called torque. It’s a divine attribute. This is a typically
Celtic model with its non realistic anatomy, its distorted sexual attributes.
Plougastel-Daoulas (Finistère) Chapelle de la Fontaine Blanche in the early years of the 20th century (ND Phot .) In the foreground of the photography, before the low wall, we can see the upper part of the God of fecundity. At that time the god had still his head.
Bretons from other countries : the birth of Plougastel
From the 3rd century, Bretons coming from Great Britain set foot on the Armorican peninsula. There were enemy raids too and waves of Breton migrations followed each other up to the 6th century. Christianity become established at that time and several parishes founded.
Plougastel ( plou: parish ; kastell : fortified) included Loperhet, Dirinon, a part of Daoulas, Saint Urbain and the small market town known as Gwikastell (gwi : large village) ,
During the early Middle Ages Plougastel became an agricultural land organized around manors. Farmers grew cereals and vegetables and reared livestock too. The sea also provided them with fish and seafood. Moreover they developed lime quarries for their buildings. Flax and hemp were also produced on the territory.
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The blue gold of Plougastel : flax and hemp cultivation
The first traces of flax and hemp cultivation date back from the beginning of of the Neolitic period (6,000 to 2,200 years before Christ). Flax and hemp found in the north of Brittany silt soils and an oceanic climate favorable to their cultivation. In Plougastel the payment of of the tithe in the end of the 12th century attested to the presence of flax.
The golden age of its cultivation was between the 15th and the 18th century. Brittany specialized in weaving fabrics for trade and export. The economy generated by theses crops and the transformation of these plants have left a rich and varied heritage : from kanndi (houses to bleach the flax) lin ) to parish closes.
There were many reasons why flax and hemp crops slowly declined : conflicts between France and other European counties from the 17th century put an end to export; steamers took the place of sailing boats in the navy in the 19th century; cotton mills competed flax and hemp ones in spite of the creation of the Société Linière du Finistère ( Finisterian linen company). Then new crops will appear successfully such as strawberries.
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Lin mill . Etching from an Edouard Puyo’s drawing for an article dedicated to: “important industrial companies in France, flax spinning “ Published in l’ Illustration ( October 27 1849. Collection city of Landerneau.
At the end of the 18th merchants and company managers started to organize the trade by gathering weavers in rural sheds. In 1820 They set up their first business. Their different weaving sheds were put together and they took a stake in the Finisterian linen company whose articles were filed in 1845. The factory was built on the bank of the river Elorn which provided the necessary hydrophilic power to run the machinery. In spite of all these efforts they failed to diversify their market . Their main customer was the Royal navy. The coming of steam and the great deal of space taken up by cotton led to the closure of the Company in 1891.
From seeds to canvas
Seeds are imported from the Baltic countries to the port of Roscoff. In April they are broadcast on a worked soil, well drained, rich and slightly acidic. Farmers frequently input manure and seaweed to fertilize their soils. Flax blooms a hundred days later. Flowers are blue. They open in the morning and fade at the beginning of the afternoon. Other flowers appear on the stems the following days and it lasts a fortnight. Flax stems are made of wood enclosed in fibres tided up with pectin.
In July when flax comes to maturity it is pulled out by hand in order to get a maximum length and then regularly wind-rowed on fields. Plants are on average 40 cm high. Making a canvas requires many different steps.
The great transformations of flax
1. Retting flax allows the pectin that binds fibres and wood to be broken down thanks to soil microorganisms, rain, and dew. This process is carried on in poulou lin, holes full of water or small ponds built with stones. In those ones sheaves are maintained in water with wooden rakes or heavy pebbles. Nowadays retting is done by extending the stems in windrows on fields.
2. Scutching consists in separating fibres from wood in order to obtain tow. Stems are put on the blades of the braie which break the wood under the action of a lever, by repeated movements. This operation is generally completed by the pesselage which allows to soften the tow and remove the remaining pieces of straw.
3. Carding is a process used to separate fibres and to eliminate the remaining impurities by means of a comb made of iron teeth brought together. The longest fibres are kept for spinning. The shortest ones are used as tow.
4. Once you get tow, it must be spun to become a canvas. To do that, a spinner or "filandière" begins by rolling the tow on a distaff (a stick of wood). Spinning is done with the help of a spinning wheel.
Twisting and stretching the fibres of the tow allows to obtain a thread, more or less fine, depending on the dexterity of the spinner.
5. Bleached flax has significant added value. At Plougastel as well as in the Leon area only skeins are bleached not the fabric. Bleaching is done in kanndi (kanna - bleach and ty - house, bleaching houses or laundry houses) or in ty couez (steam houses). They use ash from beech, without tannin and with a significant saponifying power.
6. Weaving is made with loom. Interlaced weft threads and warp threads gradually create a canvas. The process is carried out in a very humid room. Linen can be combined with wool during weaving to obtain a comfortable fabric called berlinge.
The marketing of flax
Flax and hemp are used daily for domestic use. Flax is used for the production of fine household linen and clothing, while hemp is used for ship sails, work clothes, ropes and packaging.
From the 16th to the18th century, Brittany was one of the most famous area for flax and hemp industry. This generated an intense economic activity. The production and trade of canvases were codified by royal regulations, real specifications. Before being exported to wholesalers in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain or Portugal, canvases, called crées, were folded and checked at the brand’s office, located in the market square of Landerneau.
Plougastel supplies Brest military arsenal with hemp cloth for ropes, sails and clothing as well as the convict prison. At the beginning of the 19th century, that commercial link deteriorated. The Navy had a pre-emption right on production, which did not allow market forces to operate.
Did you know ?
When recognized compliant with the brand’s office, the bales of canvases were marked with a guarantee seal before being exported. It was affixed by a wooden stamp indicating the current year. Stamps were burned the following year.
François Hippolyte Lalaisse (costumes), Félix Benoist (landscape)
Calvary of Plougastel Daoulas (Finistère)
1845 Lithograph on paper, extracted from the album " Armoricaine gallery , costumes et picturesque views of Brittany ", del.lith. of H. Charpentier
Nantes H.26,8 x l.38,5 cm.
The parish enclosure of Plougastel visible on this print has disappeared today after numerous rearrangements in 1869 and its destruction during the Second World War. Originally, the enclosure included the church, a cemetery planted with many trees, three crosses, one or more ossuaries. Walls surrounded the whole area. They were pierced with several entrances including the south-facing one with a triumphal arch.
Economic benefits
Flax and hemp fabric trade increased the standard of living and promote the development of the territory. Production and trade were governed by rich peasant merchants, traders and shipowners. A remarkable architectural heritage appeared, such as opulent houses and town coastguards’ mansions. Furniture too was very rich.
This collective prosperity, combined with the religious fervour of the population, was also observed through the construction and embellishment of the eight chapels of Plougastel, the parish church and its enclosure.
In the Napoleonic cadastre dating from 1826, many plots had names related to the cultivation and processing of flax and hemp. Plougastel had 94. The terms poul lin ( pool of the flax ), liors ar handi (small field of the kanndi), prat neud ( field of the threat ), canap garden (hemp garden) appeared in it .
Turn the cubes to learn more!
Kab aod from Plougastel
19th century
Linen, berlinge
A kab aod (beach coat) or kabig gwenn (little white coat) was an essential workwear on the Plougastel peninsula until the 19th century. It was always worn open to facilitate manoeuvring on boats or for any other physical effort. It mainly protected from sea spray and wind, notably thanks to its hood. It was worn over a shirt, one or two colourful and embroidered undervests, the upper one had sleeves. This piece was generally coated with tallow, in order to waterproof the fabrics.
Press lin , linen wardrobe
19th century
Wood H.194 x W.153 x D .68 cm
Linen wardrobes reflected its owners’s wealth. The more they were decorated, the greater the wealth. They could be adorned with concentric circles, clusters, birds, bouquets or even rosettes.
The richest families had several of them. This piece of furniture is locked. The key usually kept permanently by its owner.
The Red Gold of Plougastel
“Plougastel is the Garden of Brest and Landerneau . Strawberries,roses,daffodils,violets and wild roses cover the fields planted with orchards. Every kind of vegetables abundantly grow there six weeks before they do everywhere else “
Jacques Cambry ,1798.
The flax cultivation was progressively abandoned at the end of the 18th century for the benefit of different crops, including strawberries. Wild strawberries,well known since Antiquity, were known in Europe and North America. First used for medicinal and decorative purposes, its cultivation spread throughout the Middle Ages. In Plougastel a farm producing wild strawberries was mentioned in the village of Pen Ar Ster, in 1736.
Plougastel saw its first economic growth thanks to the White Strawberry, brought back to France from Chile by François Amédée Frezier in 1714. He boarded the ship Saint Joseph in 1712 for an exploration trip on the Southern seas,pretending to help and advise the Spaniards and help them to fight back pirates,he spied on harbours and commercial links and mining resources of Chile and Peru. He came back to France with 5 plants of white strawberries from Chile. The people of Plougastel farmed this variety until the 19th century . They created many crossbreedings and new varieties.The cultivation of the red fruit and its trade started being widely spread.
Portrait of Amédée François Frezier
18th century
Copy of an oil on canvas owned by the municipality of Vailly ( Haute-Savoie)
This painting shows François Amédée Frezier , wearing his uniform of engineer charge of fortifications. During his life he was a very versatile man: a theologian, a botaniste, a mapmaker, a mathematician, a geometrician and a sciences observer. He also studied architecture, fine arts and he was interested in fireworks. At the end of his career, he was an Infantry Lieutenant Colonel. He embodies the curiosity of mind, the scientific explorer of an enlightened century.
1. The journey of Amédée François Frezier.
During his exploration, Frezier,made several stopovers in the Conception Bay in Chile,and in the neighbouring countryside he discovered a variety of big white strawberries cultivated by the Mapuches,one of the most important native people in Chile and Peru .
He wasn’t the first foreigner who tasted and studied these white strawberries but he was the first who managed to pick some plants and to bring them back to France.
2. The arrival of white strawberries in France.
After a six - month journey, the ship arrived in Marseille,in August 1714. Five plants had survived the Atlantic crossing. Frezier offered the nephew of the ship- owners, the Bruny brothers, who had helped him to help him water the plants with fresh water.
He offered one plant to his friend Antoine de Jussieu to cultivate it in King’s Gardens; another plant was given to M. Le . Peletier de Sousy who was then Secretary of State for fortifications .
Finally, he kept one last plant for himself.
3. Spreading and acclimatizing Chilean Strawberries.
The Chilean Strawberries rapidly spread throughout Europe (France, England,The Netherlands) thanks to its multiplication with stems from Jussieu ‘s plant. A stolon is an air stem rooting itself to produce a new plant.
The plants then produced very few flowers and fruits. The species is a dioecious one,needing a male and a female plant to get pollination,and fruits.New fruits then appeared thanks to cross-breedings.(Fragaria Virginia, Fragaria moschata Weston).
4.The epic story goes on in Brittany.
Appointed Chief of fortifications in Brittany,in1739, Frezier established his quarters in Brest where Chilean Strawberries had already been growing in the Botanical Gardens of the French Navy, since 1738.
In 1765, Frezier told Antoine - Nicolas Duchesne that when he arrived Chilean Strawberries were thriving in Brest and in the neighbourhood. As soon as 1740 Plougastel-Daoulas turned out to be a new homeland for these strawberries thanks to the nature of its souls,a mixture of clays and schists, and its maritime microclimate.
5. Mutations of white strawberries
In the 1750es Plougastel provided the great marketplaces of Paris and London with the Chilean Strawberries. Progressively, its cultivation dwindled in favour of Pineapple Strawberries,a hybrid strawberry, cross-breeded with the Virginia Fragaria.
Consumers preferred the new red fruits richer in sugar, the emerging plants marginalised the white strawberries. The resistance during transportation and productivity became great issues as far as the evolution of the cultivation of varieties was concerned.
The spreading of a demanding cultivation
From the middle hall of the 19th century, the farming of strawberries strongly became more important, until il covered a surface o f400 hectares (10 000 square meters). The Pineapple Strawberry, the Princesse Royale, La Moyenne or the Royale were then cultivated, the Chilean Strawberry was still farmed on 50 hectares, but it represented one eighth of the crops only.
This boom was supported by the families ‘workpower and the environment. This farming was very demanding, handmade, in open fields, it required a never ending attention. Preparing the fields,picking new plants from the plants which had already produced fruits and replanting the stems from healthy plants,weeding…
The soil grew poorer in spite of rotations ,it was fertilized by soil enrichment from the sea,(maerl,sand,seaweeds) and also manure. Early in Spring, in Plougastel crops usually started in May. Collected early in the morning or late in the evening, strawberries were kept safe from the sun or the rain ,in little sheds, “Lapig Sivi” in Breton.
Did you know ?
A skilled person can collect up to 100 kgs a day! You need to delicately put the stem of the fruit between your thumb and your index finger to avoid damaging the tender plump flesh of the strawberry.
The farming hectares were divided between ploughable fields, pastures and moors. Strawberries, cereals, vegetables and starchy plants (peas,broad beens,,,lentils…) are planted on a rotation system to préserve the health and fertility of the soil. After farming strawberries for three years, fields farmers planted wheat,then barley, and after oats and red clovers.
Marketing the red gold
Until the middle of the 19th shopkeepers or salesmen from Brest bought strawberries in Plougastel.Some farmers sold their crops themselves.They crossed the sea in small rowing-, boats or sailing boats,or took a ferry in Le Passage to go to Brest or they rode their horses to reach the marketplaces in Brest and Landerneau.
The creation of The Railway from Paris to Brest,and stopped in Landerneau in 1865 was the starting point of a huge expansion of the strawberry farming industry. Many shopkeepers ,traders,came to Landerneau to buy strawberries in order to send them to the capital city. As early as 1879 some producers sent their strawberries themselves to Paris and then to England,being able to charter as many as 3 merchant ships with 400 tones per day at the beginning of the 20th century .
In order to organize the strawberry marketing several associations and a producers union were created. As soon as 1912, Factories transformed and préserve the excess of products ( strawberries, green peas…) making jams or preserves,they also produced their packaging.
Did you know ?
Within the Association Strawberries from Plougastel, in 2025, the production of strawberries in hanging gardens represents 95% versus 5% in the open fields
A brief chart of the quantity of strawberries produced in Plougastel :
2025 : 2 000 tonnes
2011 : 3 500 tonnes
1998 : 500 tonnes
1973 : 3 600 tonnes
1960 : 5 000 tonnes
1956 : 4 200 tonnes
1937 : 6 000 tonnes
1929 : 5 000 tonnes
" The Plougastels are drawing in the middle of melancholic Brittany, like an island of optimism » Charles Le Goffic.
The Breton guise and Plougastel guise
The Breton guise or Breton costume refers to the different models of clothing worn in Brittany. Until the middle of the 19th century, Breton people had three categories of clothing: everyday attire, Sunday best and ceremonial dress.
The very great diversity of styles, colours, headdresses are part of the specificities of the Breton costume, linking it to textile arts. The costume is marked by a strong geographical differentiation from the 19th century. It is often different from one commune to another.
Our museum houses an exceptional collection of Plougastel costumes from the 18th to the 20th century. Only few of them are displayed in this room.
The costume is as much about appearance as it is about behaving . It can be subject to judgment . So carelessness is banned. The wearer must be dignified and respectable. He represents a community ,sort of clan membership
A costume varies according to age, sex, circumstances and the different stages of life: childhood, adolescence, marriage, mourning. Clothes are real identity cards.
General shapes were maintained between the 18th and 20th centuries. But Materials and colours evolved a lot: purple, red, moss green and also blue, brown, white and black for wool cloth. ( p.49) Bright yellow was used in women’s clothes until the early 19th century, then it appeared discreetly
in laces, straps and embroidery. After1920, the Plougastellen (ladies from Plougastel) gradually abandoned colours and wore dark costumes throughout the 20th century.
Daily life and woman’s costume in the 19th century
Daily life, working the land and fishing require appropriate clothes. They are made of solid fabric in neutral colours. When faded or worn-out formal wear can be transformed into everyday clothes The general shape of any costume remained the same. In everyday clothing only the quality of the fabric changes
In the 19th century, the woman’s costumes consisted of a hivizen, a short and fitted jacket with wide turned-back sleeves, whose lower back revealed the killog, a large fluting at the back of the krapoz, the corselet. The Woman wore an apron on her skirt called lostenn, and a neck handkerchief. She also wore a headdress with wings unfolded or folded, depending on the occasion.
The man’s costume from the 19th to the 20th century
Men wear trousers made of linen in summer and of brown berlinge in winter or bragou braz made of wool. A large scarf girds up his loins. They have one or two waistcoats over their shirts and a white kabig or a jacket called porpant. Another large scarf is tied around their necks and a brown red hat called chigovi or an ordinary one completes their outfits.
The most important changes were made at the beginning of the 20th century. Linen was no longer worn and men wished to break free from tradition by seeking simplicity in their everyday clothing. Until the Second World War (1939-1945), men as well as boys wore navy blue jackets with tone on-tone stitchings around their large collars. On the front, a shirt with discreet patterns and a black waistcoat (didan). A pair of trousers and a beret completed this clothing.
[Iconographic legends]
Diagrams: Wedding costume, 1820 Wedding costume, 1850 Wedding costume, 20th century Vareuse, 20th century - three A4 photographs of people in costumes (two portrait formats, one landscape format)
On display:
- evolution of men’s embroidery
- jacket
- buttons, threads
- Plougastel embroidery stitches on a canvas.
This particular costume worn only in the peninsula of Plougastel remains an enigma for ethnologists, because it is very different from the other costumes in Brittany.
Louis Caradec
Man of Plougastel Saint Pierre
19th century
Print
André Leveillé
Breton woman in prayer
1916
Oil on canvas
Headdress through the ages
Breton headdresses date from the end of the 10th century. They were worn by peasant women. It was at the end of the 11th century that transformations took place which determined the main types of Breton headdresses. Headdresses with wings were thus created. The unfolded headdress of Plougastel remains the oldest model among Breton ones . It is made of coarse linen for daily work, fine canvas for ceremonies. Until the 19th century it had very long hanging wings. At that time, wings began to be folded using a single pin. Although folded they went down to the middle of the back and exceeded the top of the headdress .Only the crafted part, the taledenn (under-cap) remained hidden. Then
the folding became more and more complex. The depth of the headdress shortened along with the length of its wings. The headdress decreased as you gradually discover with the woman’s hair pulled under the taledenn. This evolution took place slowly but permanently until the 1960s.
The end of the costume
The 1950s mark a period of cultural transition for the Plougastellen. Young girls had new social experiences like going out to the cinema on Sundays. Wearing a headdress and a costume distinguished them others and exposed themselves to criticism. Pressure to adopt more modern outfits to fit into urban codes led to clothing standardization with simple and practical clothes.
Elegance was a challenge as an adaptation to the seasons and social events whereas a headdress remained a symbol of belonging to a group as well as a tradition. Clothing constraints, such as covering one’s hair at church, reflected strict social norms. The period from 1952 to 1955, although difficult, reflected a time of change for young women unlike older ones who remain attached to their traditional costume until the end of the 20th century.
Male ceremonial costume, known as porpant.
Second half of the 19th century
Plougastel
Mauve jacket adjusted to the waist, trimmed with a hundred thread buttons. The hat is called tok buzhug. This costume disappeared in the early 20th century. “ Very different was the ceremonial costume (weddings, religious festivals...) : the garment, lined with green, was then made of amaranth; the trousers and the hat were replaced by large red trousers tightening at the knees stockings made of white flannel. On side is a large felt hat decorated with coloured fabric caterpillars”. Pol de Courcy, 1865
Female ceremonial costume
19th century
Plougastel
“They therefore wore the Egyptian headdress (...), whose main characteristic is a long beard on the side made, in delicate batiste, a delicious little jacket in a bright and soft golden green, and with a most flirtatious cut, discovering a waistcoat embroidered in midnight blue cloth, sleeves and a white wimple, all this with an indescribable accumulation of skirts and petticoats,(...)” Miss Bertham-Edwards, 1875
Feminine costume, called pilpous
Late 19th century, early 20th century
Plougastel
The folded headdress masks women’s hair. At the beginning of the 20th century, women’s costume is very covering. “Heavier, less shimmering than that of men, the female costume includes a skirt [on which], a pilpouz apron is tied. The bodice, a real breastplate, is called krapos (...) Let’s not forget the cholo'h or rooster.(...) It is made of rigid cardboard, covered with a high-cut cloth. Placed below the ribbon of the skirt, it looks like a symbolic rudder more than a crest.” Charles Le Goffic, 1911
Men’s suit
Late 19th century
Plougastel
The jigovi beanie is worn throughout the 19th century. Abel Hugo made a description of it in La France pittoresque in 1835. It will later make way to the hat or beret depending on the occasion. In the photographs of the early 20th century, there are only old men who wear this hat. The jiletenn war c'horre has a straight cut." Men wearing red Phrygian hats, blue waistcoats (...) and 58 scarlet belts"
Girl costume, known as drogod
Late 19th century, early 20th century
Plougastel
When they are about 4, young girls abandon their saë to put on a drogod. They keep this costume until adolescence. It is composed of two parts sewn together: a white cotton bodice and a skirt . A bib is integrated into the apron in pilpous. In a women costume, the lostenn is tied to the waist and can only be worn by women whose hips are formed. The late wearing of this costume is a characteristic of Plougastel.
Male ceremonial costume, also known as green costume
Early 20th century
Plougastel
At the turn of the 20th century, many observers witnessed the radical change in men’s fashion. The fabric caterpillars of the tok buzhug give way to large black velvet ribbons. The porpant disappears; Trousers are now long. They are still very flared at the top, with low pockets on the sides. In 1911,
Charles Le Goffic indicated "[pockets] large enough, a loustic (funny guy) said to me to fit a suckling pig, deep enough to make one litre of brandy disappear." Tight at the knees, they tightly mould the leg to above the foot.
Female costume for marriage with a widower
Early 20th century
Plougastel
This costume was worn by a woman who married a widower in November 1906. At that time, the brides' aprons were made of silk. The seizin, a ribbon worn by the brides, is also very sober and solid colour.
Costume of a girl in great mourning, known as dilhad kañv
20th century
Plougastel
The time for mourning costumes was governed by a precise protocol.: 12 months for the great mourning and 6 for the half-mourning.
The Plougastel Louis-Marie Bodénès wrote : "The idea of death is familiar to the Plougastels, because to them the world of the dead is very close to the one of the living. Since their early childhood, they got used to this idea. [... ] We also bring young children to say goodbye to the dead."
Bridal costume, called dilhad place'h nevez tro dro.
Around 1920
Plougastel
The Plougastellen definitively adopt black after the First World War (1914-1918). The guipure , a very openwork lace, whose patterns are separated by 61 large gaps, appears in the adornments. The unfolded headdress and orange blossom, worn by the bride on her wedding day, distinguish them from other women.
Ceremonial costume for early childhood, known as saë
Early 20th century
Plougastel
Boys and girls were dressed identically until 4 years old, except for a hat that the little boy no longer wears around 3. Various colours symbolize the Virgin Mary: red first, then blue and white after Bernadette Soubirous saw the Virgin in Lourdes in 1858. Given the high infant mortality rate in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the costume of young children was dedicated to the Virgin.
Girl’s costume, called drogod
Around 1940
Plougastel
The transition from sae to drogod marks the autonomy of the little girl to dress herself. She can attach or tie all the pieces on the front of her costume. The beads date from the years 1935-1940. The ribbon of the handkerchief called Plougastell ribbon, takes its name to its frequent use in children’s costumes although it was manufactured in the area of Saint-Etienne.
Communicant costume, known as dilhad evit ar gomunion
20th century
Plougastel
Unlike girls, boys wear cut-off clothes like those of adults. For ceremonies, the costume is an exact replica of the one worn by men. Regarding embroidery, floral patterns appear as early as the 1920s. Blue jackets are sober clothing. They are not loaded with more than three different patterns embroidered between the buttonholes. They never have beards.
Communion dress, known as dilhad evit ar gomunion
20th century
Plougastel
On the day they profess their faith, for the first time young girls wear the same costume as women: the lostenn and the krapoz. This costume takes up the colours of the Virgin Mary: blue and white. Since it is a day of great ceremony, they wear the hivizenn and the unfolded headdress.
Groom costume with a mouk jacket, called dilhad den nevez
20th century
Plougastel
Unlike the women’s costume, the men’s one has kept its pre-war colours. The mouk jacket, typical colour of Plougastel, is the most richly decorated ceremonial jacket. It is intended for the upper middle classes. After his marriage, a man must give up this costume. However, he will be allowed to wear it twice again: for the baptism of his first child and if he designated himself for a procession.
Inside a Plougastel house
A Plougastel house. From the 17th century, houses on the peninsula of Plougastel have similar typologies. They are rectangular and have only one floor. All openings are facing south or south east. Interiors are similar too.
The entrance is on one level. A single rectangular room occupies the entire ground floor whose floor is entirely covered with clay most of the time. The walls are whitewashed and only the stones of the chimney are visible.
Near the entrance door a staircase leads to the upper floor and on the opposite side stands the fireplace. On the right hand side of the entrance, we can see a dresser with decorative plates facing a row of box beds, simple and slightly carved, with a single sliding door. In front of each bed, occupants used to put bench boxes which served as steps . On the left hand side of the fireplace, a wooden platform receives the kitchen utensils, called patafourn. On the right hand side, people usually put a kneading table in front of the window. This table separates a dresser for everyday bowls and plates from one more box bed.
A protective family place
In a rural society, a house is used as much as a dwelling a protection for humans or for gathering the means of subsistence. It remains the symbol of childhood and restricted family community. It is also the place where work is organized. Several generations live under the same roof according to a family hierarchy.
Grandparents make the connection with tradition. They are respected as people of experience. The only material power the head of the family and his wife have is the smooth running of the farm and the house. Men do the hardest works and women the most meticulous tasks like weeding. They milk cows too in addition to home maintenance. Unmarried brothers or sisters remain in their birthplace and help the family by participating in children’s education and daily chores.
Arts and traditions
The catholic religion was at the Heart of the Breton rural life, till the middle 20th Century. It organized, time,space, and human relationships. The rhythm of the liturgical calendar, Sunday masses, Holy Days, Pardons and processions gathered the whole community.
The parish church at the centre of the town was both a place of worship and a landmark in the landscape , the 8 chapels built in the peninsula played the same role. In a mainly farming world faith supported nearly every gesture of everyday life.
Prayers and blessings aimed at protecting, families, crops and cattle herds in a background where natural hazards were frequent.
The clergy played a major part. Priests were at the same time, spiritual guides, teachers or instructors and social mediators. They transmitted moral values, supervised the passage rites,christenings,weddings and funerals, reinforcing the feeling of belonging to a closely- knit community.
Mathurin Méheut (1882-1958)
Getting out of church,following the parish banner
Gouache
20th century
This painting shows an important moment in the population ‘s life and the importance of the catholic religion for many people in Plougastel.
Here Mathurin Méheut depicts the crowd leaving the church on the ground surrounding the building.
The figure of the Great Calvary appears in the middle ground. The artist managed to convey the gestures, postures of the characters,as well as the distinctive features of the parish costumes, their striking colours,blue and a typical hue of purple,” mouk” for the men’s embroidered waistcoats which enhances the dynamism of this gouache.
Pardons
Pardons are Breton festivities ,both religious and secular, no similar events take place in other French regions .
People come to a Chapel to be foregiven,granted an Indulgence and remission for their sins.
In Plougastel Pardons are popular assemblies, rallying all the families of the same area.
From early May till September,8 Pardons take place in and around the chapels of the peninsula. On the day of the Pardon, people go to religious events, a Mass and Vespers .On the grounds surrounding the chapel, The participants also share secular moments around the chapel, lunches, afternoon teas, many festivities also take place : Breton wresling,Kilhou Koz,an ancient skittle game,,several races,dances, lotteries….
Pardons are moments of religious fervour and social interactions which reinforce the common identity. For young people they are often an unique oppportunity, during the year.
They enable them to buid connections,strengthen relationships.
Pardons made up for the lack of other festive occasions in a rural World where Carnivals or organized by the numerous gilds ,present in cities ,do not exist.
The Pardon of Ste Anne De La Palud, also called :
The woman selling church candles
Charles Léon Godeby(1866.1952)
Oil on canvas
Early 20th century
Charles Léon Godeby painted historical events and landscapes. He exhibited his paintings at The French Artists’ Salon/exhibition. He became a member of this group in 1890, received many awards for his works of arts: the Eugène Piot Prize, French Goverment’s travelling grants,a bronze medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris (1900). He was appointed Curator of the Fine Art Museum in Quimper,from 1922 to1949.
In this painting he depicts a scene taking place during one of the most famous Pardons in Brittany. He brings us at the Heart of the St Anne De La Palud Pardon easy to recognize thanks to the Chapel and the Calvary in the background.
In the foreground a woman is selling church candles to a group of Plougastellen(women from Plougastel).
Bought before WW1, this painting was displayed on the walls of a family Hôtel Restaurant in Brieg till the mid Seventies. It was then put on the walls of the family sitting room,it was after stored into the attics.
In 2022, it was purchased by the association running the Plougastel Museum, and restored thanks to a Public suscription campaign and the 70 donors who made it possible for us to enjoy it now.
Breuriez and Gwez an anaon
Because of the extent of the peninsula, the catholic clergy divided the territory into several geographical entities: the “cordelées “, Kordenad, also used to collect tithes. The peninsula was also divided into several geographical areas following a non- ecclesiastical system, much more ancient,based on a Celtic organization,related to the system of a clan.
These entities were based on strong internal links, however there wasn’t any chief. They were called Breuriez, a Breton name meaning fellowship or Brotherhood. Within each Breuriez, each family had to provide its group assistance and solidarity. This solidarity was manifested during family celebrations like weddings or in periods of hardships such as mournings, illnesses. It was also very helpful during some important farming moments when many people had to cooperate.
During the afternoon of November the first, families gathered around a symbolic apple tree the : Gwez an anaon, the tree of souls.
This ceremony demonstrated the strong link between the Dead and the living “The communion of saints”. A tree carved in yewtrees, boxtrees or hollytrees, symbolically bearing apples was sold during an auction.
The buyer of this tree was usually the head of the family which had recently lost one member or a couple which could not get a child.
People also gathered to pray , and the amount of money was donated to the parish church to say funeral services for the dead people or to help disadvantaged people.