Markets and Merovingians - June 1, 2024

It's Saturday and market day in Pamiers. With lists and shopping bags in hand we (Mad, Ron, Chris, Dave, and I) head for Pamiers. It's cold but sunny, so I'm dressed in my fleece, looking a bit like the medieval monks we've been learning about.

Have I mentioned shopping bags before? In France, there's no such thing as brown paper bags or people to bag your groceries for you. You bring your own bag and pack your own groceries once they  have passed through the check out. Grocery stores sell reusable bags although I often see French shoppers simply piling all their groceries back into their cart and then pack them into bags in their car once outside. At any rate, this year, our supermarket bags are fabric and these are the shopping bags we brought to the market.

These fabric bags are great for shopping. From the Super-U grocery store, the sac says "Mon sac fait cocorico" (My bag is crazy)

As usual, the market was crowded and full of booths selling produce, plants, meats, cheeses, and prepared foods. 

selling goat cheese

at our favorite cheese truck

the best olives come from here

These are garrigue strawberries, smaller and sweeter than the regular (in my opinion) and in season

a vegetable stall

small, compostable plastic bags are provided. You serve yourself and then have it weighed when you pay.

heirloom tomatoes

Cherries are coming into season, mostly from Spain right now.

Even if we were to buy nothing, just walking through the market is a joyful experience. All over the market neighbors and friends stop to greet each other and catch up on the news (causing traffic jams in the "aisles"). You often have to wait in lines while people chat with the man or woman serving them. You can always tell the best produce stalls, because these will have the longest lines. 

Finished with the shopping, we spent a few minutes looking around Pamiers before heading home for lunch which will feature the fruits and vegetables we just bought.

Mayor's office

Pamiers cathedral

The afternoon plan is a hike to the Merovingian cemetery which is about 3 kilometers (2 miles) cross-country and up and down hills from here. While the rest get their exercise, I will be working on blog entries. As usual, I am days behind.

working on the patio

Chris on the path

This cemetery, first discovered in 1870, has had 2 archeologic excavations, the latest in 2010-2011, which discovered 166 graves. 

Cliff notes version of Merovingians: Ruling class of the Franks, in power from 450-750 AD. (After the fall of the Roman Empire and conquering of Visigoths). The Franks controlled all of what is today France and Germany. The name means "sons of Merovech". You may have heard of Childeric (son of Merovech) and/or Clovis (grandson of Merovech). They wore their hair long which distinguished them from the other Franks. They were Christian, following Clovis' conversion to Catholicism.

The Merovingian cemetery, named the Tabariane Necropolis, is thought to have been used by a community rather than due to an event, like a battle. Graves included those of men, women, and children of various ages and social status. Belt buckles, jewelry, a spear point, pins, buttons, and other metal objects were found in the graves. After about 200 years, the cemetery was no longer used, perhaps because churches were now well-established with prescribed funeral and burial rites. But no one really knows.

signage at the cemetery

After the archeology study was completed, the graves were returned to their original appearance and signage was added to help the curious understand what they were seeing.