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Lunel, yesterday and today
The Médard Collection
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The legend of Pescalune

The most poetic of legends....

Voici les gens de Lunel Qui en font toujours quelqu'une Un jour comme des étourneaux Ils allèrent pêcher la lune La lune était couchée Ils croyaient qu'elle s'était noyée Et ils allèrent la pêcher Avec un panier troué.

Here are the folk of Lunel Those who make their town great One day like starlings They went to fish the moon The moon had set They thought she had drowned And they went to fish her out With a basket full of holes.     Statue"Le Pescalune" par Ben K

The most historical of legends....

Once upon a time, around the 6 th century, there was an isolated hamlet of eel fishermen in the middle of a wild and inhospitable marsh.

This brotherhood of fishermen invented a means of eel fishing that quickly spread to the surrounding areas. So that the voracious eel wouldn’t swallow the fishhook, they baited the bottom of a basket that was then attached to a rope and lowered into the murky depths of the marsh.

It is well known that eels hunt on dark, moonless nights. These clever fishermen used this knowledge and only fished for eel on the blackest nights, thereby catching an extraordinary number of their prey.

Among the rare travellers who dared venture into this area, there were some who witnessed in frightened wonder these nocturnal practices and went on to recount the story to others. As the nights were often cloudy in those days and the moon’s appearances were rare, the myth spread that these marsh people had captured the celestial body in their nets.

Thus was born the legend of the fishermen of the moon, who are called in the Occitan language the Pescalunes…