Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 July 1892 — The Glant Dolls of Doual. [ARTICLE]

The Glant Dolls of Doual.

For two ceriturifes or more, th« quiet. little French town Doual has had the custom of waking up ouce a Fear to witness a scene which has not Its parallel anywhere in the world. The spectacle is a procession of gigantic dolls. ! \ At eleven o’clock on the first Sunday after July 6, Gayant and his family leave tho museum gardens, while the chimes in the beltry ring tho march of Gayants, and crowds of Douai citizens and visitors from all tho neighboring towns wait to welcome them with enthusiastic applause. Gayant wears a knight’s costume and a helmet with white plumes, lie is tweuty-two feet high, and liia skeleton is a wicker frame. He is carried by men concealed in the framework of hi? legs. Behind him walks his wife, Maiio Cagenon. She is twenty feet high, and wears the costume of a lady of tho court of Marguerite do Valois. She, likohor husband and children, has a wicker anatomy. The children are Monsieur Jacquofc, twelve feet high, who wears a velvet cap and Spanish cloak; Mademoiselle -Fillon, ten feet high, and dressed like her mother; and little Blnbln, eight feet high, who wears a child’s cap and carries a rattle.

The Gayants arc followed by a chariot. On a high platform at the back of this is a figure of Fortune. In front of Fortune, on a revolving platform, is a Spanish gentleman, a lady, a Swiss soldlor, a hanker, a peasant carrying a chicken, and a lawyer with a pocketful of documents.. As this platform revolves, it ke*eps the position of an incllnod piano, first one end and then tho other being raised to tho height of Fortune. This illustrates, as the “Song of the Gayants” explains, that fortune changes, and overy one, from tho gentleman to tho peasant, lias His vicissitudes. The origin of the festival Is not known. In 1745, a company of gunners from Douai, who were encamped at Tournal, suddonly deserted in a body, with their arms and haggago. The provost wished to search for them and wns very indignant, but their captain said: “Be calm. I know where they aro. They had to go and see their grandfather Gayant at Douai. Thoy will come back.” And in a few days they returned, well pleased with their h dlday, and bringing with them a largo number of recruits.