jm | Hell’s Sabbath for witches at Fort du Cognelot

The 24th Witches’ Festival keeps its promises this weekend of October 29 and 30 at Fort du Cognelot. The crowd of great days revels in a family potion, a mixture of medieval universe and fantasy world for a demonic edition.

They are said to have been there almost forever. They are said to be the soul of the Cognelot… Even if the witches have long had bad press, here they are for several years at the top of the polls. We love them, we adore them, we celebrate with them. And Chalindrey, which prides itself on a fort and an associative life rich in ideas and volunteers could not miss the deal! Shazam and l’Effort du Cognelot have been developing for many months the magic potion of the authentic party, giving pleasure, dreams and emotions.

In a deceptively disturbing atmosphere, where unsightly witches, nice or bad monsters are omnipresent, walkers stroll over the last weekend of October, just before Halloween, the impressive fortified site, its casemates and the outdoor courtyards occupied by Exhibitors. More than 80 merchants mainly offer food, local and artisanal products.

The Addams Families at the rendezvous

Everything is an excuse to arouse immoderate joy in the visitors: all these smiles and marvelous eyes will warm the hearts of the 150 volunteers.

Inevitably, 81 exhibitors, including a majority of new ones, in fields as varied as gastronomy, crafts, literature with writers from Haute-Marne, that’s a hit!

Miss Sorcières 2023 and her runners-up honor this 24th edition with their presence.

What better than a fort in the middle of the forest to meet the witches? Jade, the 7-year-old girl from Dijon, came in make-up with her parents, Cyrielle and Joseph. The family savors every moment… She meets Frédéric Pollet, immersed in witchcraft since his earliest childhood, a specialist in white magic, surrounded by his two witches Gisèle and Mauricette, and offering witch calendars on wood in French. “We only find them in German or English knowing that the New Year is November 1st! » says the bearded heir to the Addams family.

The Cognelot is adorned with disguises in timeless colors. Extraordinary creatures perched on stilts 2.50 m high, display postures that have emerged from a distant imagination disguised as pumpkins. A clown even has a fair not far from the horror tunnel and the make-up corner.

Get out !

A real witches’ broom, used to clean spaces of negative energy or even an antidote to fuel shortages, holds the top of the stand at Sarah Fasquel of the local Oserlosier workshop. The Burgundian Victorien Meuniot, from the height of his 2 meters, with Viking blood flowing in his veins, forges iron, works wood but above all “places energy in matter”. Its pendulums and sigils apparently facilitate the transfer of energy!

Other gourmet flavors in sugar, dairy are not left out, mingling with multiple scents: the catering stand and waffles, pancakes smells of one of the casemates.

A crush on Myriam de Ligny-en-Barrois, a Disney fan who “sells dreams” with her pastries in candles that are more real than life and that cannot be eaten. What a shame, they are so appetizing and smell good “just liquid wax put in moulds, whipped if necessary, decorated like in pastry chefs and smelling of the perfume of Grasse”. You touch with your eyes, you don’t even have to turn them on!

Watch for new stars, observe the sky, listen on full moon nights, the Cognelot witches are back more than ever this Sunday

From our correspondent Sylvie Baudot

Witches’ Festival, this Sunday October 30 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., free for children under 12, free parking, permanent entertainment, bread oven, Halloween market.