L’Etoile de Digne - Star of St. Vincent
The unusual story of the Étoile de Digne, or Star of Saint Vincent
The Étoile de Digne takes its name from small black star-shaped fossilised deposits found in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Department UNESCO nature reserve, in particular on the slopes of the Mont St. Vincent, just outside Digne, a spa town known to the locals as ‘zen town’!
The fossils stand out like bas-reliefs against the mountainside where they were originally identified by Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655), the great Provençal mathematician, philosopher and astronomer born at Champtercier, near Digne.
Approximately 300 million years old, the stars, pentacrinites from the early Jurassic period, were held to give protection from spells and all forms of evil. They were traditionally worn as a talisman in jewellery first created by Antoine Colomb, an early 19th century Digne goldsmith. Though production of Étoile de Digne jewellery ceased in the 1970’s, Digne’s Musée Gassendi, has revived it and offers copies of the originals for sale.
The area is also very well known for it’s beautiful lavender fields producing Lavandin a naturally occurring hybrid cross between Lavandula Angustifolia and Lavandula Latifolia, primarily used in cosmetics (soaps, creams, colognes) industry rather than for it’s therapeutic uses.
Edited by Denise Goss
Flower of the month - STAR OF BETHLEHEM
Legend talks about the parents of a young mortal called Ornithogalon, whose name means bird’s milk, and his brothers and sisters, who died due to lack of nourishment. The young mortal became so undernourished that Venus took pity on him and turned him into a beautiful pure white flower.
This plant, is highly toxic to humans and horses and grows by roadside and fields from April to June. Known as the Star of Bethlehem it is one of the main 5 ingredients of the Bach flower rescue remedy. It is also sometimes known as the ‘11th hour lady’ as the flowers only open when the sun is at it’s zenith!
