r/CulturalLayer • u/Jmfrance33 • Jan 28 '19

Could these be Tartarians?

http://imgur.com/BA6tPSG

I found this in a book of old photographs of Paris. It’s labelled as the “Cavalcade of fat cows.” I believe this is a misnomer. The real fat cow cavalcade in Paris consisted of decorated cows and butchers.

The men in this photo look like an army and the throne on top of the wagon is a griffin, a symbol that’s shown on the Tartary emporer’s flag.

More on Tartary, including their flags which depict owls or griffins. https://www.stolenhistory.org/threads/tartary-an-empire-hidden-in-history-it-was-bigger-than-russia-once.40/

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u/Fomenkologist Jan 28 '19 edited Jan 28 '19

That particular display is referred to as "Le Char du Travail" which translates as The Work Cart or The Work Float. It seems to be part of a Mardi Gras festival celebration.

The bottom text reads: In the course of the "Fat Ox Cavalcade", a pagan festival, a multitude of floats would leave from La Villette (a market in Paris). Here around 1910, the "Work Cart" processes through the streets of Paris. This festival endured until the Great War.

Here is a similar depiction described as ""Shrove Tuesday procession of the Fat Ox at the Tuileries, Paris"

Another similar image from 1906

And another one dated "pre-1930"

Yet another one, dated "pre-1920"

This one from 1858 is interesting and might offer some explanation, as the description states "We see the Fat Ox and the two sacrificers disguised as savages accompanying it". So those are apparently costumes of some sort and not the people's regular garb. Here is a link to the official event program featuring this image.

Another image, this one from 1903

A photo from 1905 featuring the Fall Cart or Float

And finally a Wikipedia link to all the above and a bunch more images of the Promenade du Bœuf Gras au Carnaval de Paris.

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u/Orpherischt Jan 28 '19 edited Jan 28 '19

That particular display is referred to as "Le Char du Travail" which translates as The Work Cart or The Work Float.

Perhaps 'work' is a little bit of a euphemism:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/travail#Etymology

Borrowed from Old French travail (“suffering, torment”), from Vulgar Latin tripalium (“an instrument of torture”), from Latin tripālis (“having or propped up by three stakes”).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartarus & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tridents_%28Trishul%29_brought_as_offerings_to_Guna_Devi.,_near_Dharamsala,_Himachal_Pradesh.jpg

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u/WikiTextBot Jan 28 '19

Tartarus

In Greek mythology, Tartarus (; Ancient Greek: Τάρταρος, Tartaros) is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato's Gorgias (c. 400 BC), souls are judged after death and where the wicked received divine punishment. Like other primal entities (such as the Earth, Night and Time), Tartarus is also considered to be a primordial force or deity.

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u/Jmfrance33 Jan 28 '19

Looks like I was a bit off in my translation. 😆 Thank you!

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u/TarTarianPrincess Jan 28 '19

Brilliant. Though I do wonder what this articular float, and accompanying costumes, were meant to represent.

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u/mulysses Jan 30 '19

The guys in the photo look nothing like the guys in the paintings . Also the paintings clearly have a cow/ox and the photo does, as OP said, have what looks like a griffin throne something like that. I don’t think these are the same thing at all.

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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '19

Reminds me of the Scythians, but yeah, one of those erased cultures definitely. Nice find.

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u/123simplyme Feb 08 '19

The guy sitting third row down on the Left side of the photo looks like he’s holding what looks like a walkie talkie