A bronze tribute to the mountain woodsman...

Herlock

Herlock

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May 13, 2015
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Hi. Just as a curiosity, last week we were having a short vacation in the mountains here and this bronze statue caught my attention: a rugged mountain man chopping down wood with an axe :). It’s in the main square of the village and the statement (in local dialect), translates more or less like this: “whenever you have some time, just chop some wood”. It triggered some reflection about the comfort I experience today where heating it’s just a flick of a switch away and cooking it’s a couple of finger’s drumming on the gas hob/oven touch pads. A lot of things I give for granted :) ! Not so in the old times and still today in many parts of the World... How totally different is my chopping wood, limbing trees branches, starting camp fires with fire-steels, etc. for fun compared to having to do this for everyday living and really for surviving. Also the Ant and the Grasshopper (a cicada originally) fable came to my mind :) and was a nice one to refresh with the kids. Just to share!

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Do you have anything similar in your neck of the woods? Can be interesting :)!
 
Whoa! His axe looks better than a lot of production axes :D
 
Great post here! Thought provoking! Thanks for sharing. Definitely a lot we take for granted these days. It's nice to try to recollect the requirements of life back then but, as you said, we live in great comfort. I often wonder what folks that needed to do these things to sustain life would think of us doing it for enjoyment. Would they call us soft? Or would they think is crazy for doing anything other than enjoying our present comforts?

Just pontificating here. Thanks for the thought provoking start to my day!


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Hi!

@ Park Swan: Yes! That has also been one of my thoughts :D. Details are pretty amazing in this one.

@ Jonerays: Thanks! Good question. I don’t know how they would judge us. Comforts, “easy” and somewhat “safe” living standards are things people seems to value. During WWII all my 4 grandparents moved away from Milano and Sesto S. Giovanni settling down close to the Swiss borders, due to the heavy bombing and famine. They had to re-adapt somehow to a more country-style living, by breeding their own poultry, cultivating a vegetable garden, bartering, trading, etc.. They all were coming from industry jobs (aircrafts maintenance, steel industry, textile and glass production) and they have always told stories about how “difficult” and “hard” this has been to adapt to. And that was 1940, so I can imagine how this would be for modern city dwellers today, let alone the hipsters and metrosexuals :). That’s one reason why it’s good to stay fit, practice basic survival skill and avoid getting too spoiled from all this comfort. Sure sky isn’t falling tomorrow but I was old enough to remember the Balkan war, very close to us here, in Italy. From one day to another normal people, running normal lives, wake up with no electricity, no running water, wrecked houses, invading troops and looters and marauders to deal with.

@ Halfaxe: It is! Glad you like it. Yes, you’re right about the position. It’s a bit awkward. I read it as an artistic license, to really capture the deep meaning of the gesture :).

@ Lieblad: Thanks! LOL! :D That’s true. This is not unusual though, the old traditional costumes all include a buttoned up shirt. The contrast with the wild hairs and beard it’s something catching anyway. Agree :) !

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@ Gunscrounger: Thanks! Yes, I’m sure it’s not. But I get what you mean, I think :D !

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Take care!
 
What dialect is that ??
We have a new bronze statue --in Brooklyn , of Captain America !! We've left reality completely !
 
mete said:
What dialect is that ??
We have a new bronze statue --in Brooklyn , of Captain America !! We've left reality completely !
Click to expand...

Hi! The local dialect is called exactly “Trentino”, as the region. In many respects it’s similar to the dialects of the nearby Veneto region, but it does not hide an heavy Ladin and German influences. In fact, some dialect words, especially the names of agricultural and craft tools, have been abstracted directly from the German spoken in the neighbouring South Tyrol, or arising from the influence of the Germanic peoples in the centuries passed for Trentino, or brought by the Austro-Hungarian . The linguists scholars have collected hundreds of terms. Also many idiomatic expressions and constructions of typical phrases are much more similar to German than to the Italian. The dialect is still widely used today among the mountain people here, especially in small towns. There is a strong tradition of dialect theatres plays also.

Captain America in Brooklyn... well, why not?! :) . At least it's still an "old-school" super-hero, bringing along some positive values :).
 
Years back in Italy I gave a ride to a few monks - even if I had spoken Italian well , I wouldn't have understood them. In and around Bolzano one look at me and they thought I must be German Ask in Italian get
an answer in German !!! Like my family's area, Weird Italian + french ! Piacenza. As in Pancetta Piacentina = circular bacon !!
 
Last edited:
Herlock said:
Hi. Just as a curiosity, last week we were having a short vacation in the mountains here and this bronze statue caught my attention: a rugged mountain man chopping down wood with an axe :). . .

Do you have anything similar in your neck of the woods? Can be interesting :)!
Click to expand...

We don't have any real mountains in Michigan, so no mountain men.:) We had plenty of hardy loggers though.

(Not my picture)
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"Lumberman's Monument
Erected in 1931 as a lasting memorial to the lumbermen that harvestd Michigan's giant white pine.
The 14 foot bronze statue overlooks the Au Sable River.
The three men represent various stages of the historic lumbering operation.

Inscription:
Erected to perpetuate the memory of the pioneer lumbermen of Michigan through whose labors was made possible the development of the prairie states.

Oscoda, Michigan
Lake Huron"

Bob
 
Herlock,

Thanks for the response and insight. I agree with you on all counts. Interesting stuff and a good reminder that everything can quickly change.


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Rjdankert's photo =on the left is a peavey ,invented by a Maine blacksmith who combined a pike ,stick with a steel point , with a cant hook , to get a peavey ! Axe and two-man saw is obvious .
S-P photo is like our lumberman of fictional size .Paul Bunyon, , who dragged his peavey ,the point cutting the grand Canyon !. Lot's of history there . By the time the loggers got to the NW they were cutting HUGE trees by hand axe and saw .
 
Hi!

@ Rjdankert: The Lumbermen’s Monument you posted it’s beautiful and very interesting! Thanks for sharing :). Also the historical Michigan markings on the logs are very interesting. We had something of the kind also here, when the mountain areas lumber industry was much more developed. Today it’s a niche sector. About my Avatar, that’s the Captain Herlock (or Harlock) Jolly Roger flag. Captain Herlock was one of my favourite cartoons heroes when I was a kid :) and, since this Forum it’s playing along the Pirates’ Cove theme, I thought it could have been a good Avatar :). Most of all was not an already taken one!

@ Square_peg: Thanks for posting :) ! That Monument is also beautiful and very interesting!

@ Mete: Thanks a lot for your explanations, it made all much more understandable and enjoyable :thumbup:. Funny story about the monks and it’s true, specially in South Tyrol, the spoken language is mostly German. Trentino it’s more Italian instead :).

Like these woodsmen/axe/lumberjacks “themed” bronzes quite much. I’ll be glad if you’ll share the ones you know :) . Thanks!
 
I am pleased that this village respects and preserves the tradition of the woodcutter. I imagine te village statue you pictured is in Italy; can you identify the place and tell us when he statue was made?:confused:
 
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