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Carnutes Forest
“Druids, my brothers, the time has come to begin our great contest, which will allow us to judge the new techniques and designate the best druid of the year…”
Informatix, the dean of druids
Let’s Goth
For Getafix, it is time to go to the traditional meeting of the druids in the forest of Carnutes. For fear of Roman reprisals, Asterix and Obelix accompany the druid to the forest where only druids are allowed to enter.
This gathering is the perfect excuse for these guardians of knowledge to celebrate over a small horn of beer and to organize a contest to designate the best druid of the year.
From comics to movies
In addition to the third album, Asterix and the Goths, the famous forest in the center of France appears in the thirty-sixth album: Caesar’s Papyrus.
In the latter, the forest is the main objective of the Gauls. their mission is to accompany Getafix in the possession of the famous compromising papyrus of Caesar, in order to guarantee the transmission of its contents for future generations.
The forest is also a key place in Alexandre Astier’s film Asterix, The Secret of the Magic Potion. Having to find a replacement, Getafix summons the druids in the forest to get advice from his precious friends.
Why the Carnutes forest?
According to historians, the forest of Carnutes was considered a sacred place, conducive to communication with the spirits of nature. Seat of the druidic cult, it is still possible today to admire cromlechs, megaliths and circles of rite, ancient vestiges of the Carnutes people.
It was therefore only logical that René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo should exploit this heritage in the adventures of the little Gaul.
A story of pirate-ix
In addition to offering the first appearance of the Carnutes forest in the series, the album Asterix and the Goths is the first adventure of the Gaul translated abroad. The reason is due to the release, four years after its publication, of a publication of the album in Germany totally modifying the story, but keeping the original drawings.
This is how the album Siggi and the Ostrogoths was published. Asterix and Obelix become Siggi and Babarras respectively and live in the village of Bonnhalla on the Rhine. The first four Asterix albums were modified to serve the political communication of Germany (which was at the time still divided between the GDR and the FRG).
The publication of this album is too much for Goscinny, Uderzo and their publisher Dargaud. The contract previously granted to Rolf Kauka granting him the publication rights was broken and to prevent this from happening again, the authors contacted the publisher Ehapa Verlag, who would publish the first faithful translations as early as 1968.
The original print of Asterix and the Goths was 15,000 copies.
Forest of Carnutes (Étang de la Vallée)
The forest of Carnutes is the largest state forest in France.
Stretching from the Loire to the Seine, the Carnutes forest was the center of Gaul and the seat of the Druidic cult. It is named after the ancient Celtic people of Gaul, the Carnutes, who formerly lived in the regions of Orleans and Chartres.
Their territory, mainly composed of forest, was known as a sacred place where the annual assembly of the Gallic druids took place.
If you wish to discover the history of the forest, a discovery trail is located on the parking lot of the pond of the Valley in Combreux.
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Astérix - Toutes les coulisses, par Toutatis ! (French Edition)
Go behind the scenes of Asterix and discover all the secrets of the village of Gallic diehards. Did you know that Louis de Funès wanted to play the Gaul in the movies or that he was the only one who could play…
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By Damien Biju
Passionné par le cinéma, les séries d'animations et les jeux vidéo, il rêve secrètement de voyager à travers le monde à la recherche des lieux les plus emblématiques de la pop culture à bord d'une Delorean.