Rieux-Volvestre. Archery: the return of Papogay

The traditional Papogay festival, put on hold for two consecutive years, is rescheduled in 2022 from Friday April 29 to Sunday May 1 inclusive. You should know that the town-city of Rieux-Volvestre is part of the storied past of Volvestre. In a more prosaic way, for its inhabitants, it owes its fame to its “Papogay” festival, a bird shooting (dummy, clad in wood and metal) which brings together men, young and old, organized in the company of archers, every first Sunday in May “since time immemorial”, which makes it possible to designate the “king of the year”. In this 3rd millennium, a return to the history and origin of the annually repeated rite is taking shape. In Rieux, the “lost” reference documents actually existed; it is about two books of parchments, one knows the content because partially published and precisely described. The reference of 1585 is that of a “Company of the crossbow” (Brotherhood of Saint-Sebastien), bringing together the gentlemen and the main bourgeois. He also mentions another brotherhood of the game of the Arc, this time of craftsmen and peasants in “Society of the game of the arc”. The city is home to two very distinct shooting companies, and two religious rituals that are equally distinct in terms of their social rank. The first dates well before the end of the 16th century. The activity is documented from 1585, for a good part of the 18th century and after 1819. In all cases, “the king” receives the homage due to “his newly acquired status”, and parades in ceremony in front of his public. From these brotherhoods of yesteryear persists today “the Papogay shooting society”. Its purpose is to maintain the noble tradition of archery (on a bird of wood and iron perched on a mast 45 m high), this bird being called Papogay (parrot). From the proven existence of a scepter in 1763, on this day (and since 1923), the king receives a sculpted and gilded command staff which he holds in his right hand. (Ref. White Dominique, EHESS, Toulouse).