The sabots. History and characteristics.

Ayas Valley has many peculiarities: beautiful mountains, fit for anyone, places so important to form a person, and beauties impossible to describe to those who didn't see it yet. One of those peculiarities, it's a product of Ayas' handicraft, which has a long story, so ancient that we still ignore who created it first. In a few words, I'm speaking about sabot, the strong wooden footwear which unmistakeable sound I heard during all my summers. In Ayas, sabotier's job has been transferred from father to son, through centuries and generations. It isn't a kind of folkloristic handicraft, but a real business: soon, in facts, Ayas' forests where not enough, and it was necessary to move away to create new ateliers. This product's trade was essential for Ayas' economy, in the pas centuries. The sabot where also used in Piedmont's flats, and the request was so high that in Ayas any other job (gantiers, scieurs de long) was left to make only sabots. In Ayas, in early '900s, there where 250 sabotiers, a remarkable number if it's considered that the valley didn't ever hosted a big number of people. This record is historically accured, thanks to Abbot Lale- Demoz's chronicles, who was vicar of Ayas from 1914 to 1919: he spoke about 250 craftsmen, but only the best ones - about 10 - could actually stay in their homevalley, while the others had to move to Piedmont. Sabot's production wasn't a sheer economical factor, but it was a fascinating mixture of tradition and home business which represented the alpine culture of that time. The single craftmandidn't attend to any  school, didn't do stages to any atelier: everything whas given to him by the family.  

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A bit of story   

As said before, we don't know when the first pair of sabot was done. It's, however, a old time story. The only certain data we have are about geographical areas: these footwears were also realised in Belgium and Netherlands, and also in Northern France. Obviously, structure and matherials where different, but not the technologies used: even the famous Diderot's Encyclopèdie shows instruments almost identical to those we can see nowadays, used by Ayas' craftsmen. Essentially, the sabot are used to protect human feet from water and mud, keeping it warm. In Ayas, everybody used sabots, because there where only a few people who could buy the most expensive souliers, weared in important occasions. Following the tradition, after All Saints festivity, the men used to start sabot's production. They used to work in couples, doing what was called Travài Dévésà. The craftsmen also used to measure customer's feet, which were taken in a rough way, based on the men's skillness;. The craftsmen had three measure, grosse, mèdzane and bachtardine. In case of need, a couple of craftsmen could realise 12 pairs of sabot a day, but they also managed to prepare 14 or 15 pairs. About the price, in 1894 you could buy 12 grosse measure pairs with 8.5 / 9 Lira, and a dozen of mèdzane pairs with 6 / 6.5 Lira, which means 48000 and 34000 Lira, before Euro era. The instruments where realised with a special hardening by forgeron Favre Blaise of Periasc, helped by a  so - colled Lettry, of Pilaz. Those men surely improved instrument's quality. The sabotiers used widely Ayas' forests; the craftsmen preferred the arolla pine, especially the ones big enough to allow them to make two pairs of sabot from a single trunk's section, called Buche. If needed they could use the famous sapin, and it was known that Scoth pine could provoke pains. Once realised, the sabot arrived on Vercelli and Novara's markets, where agricolture was modern, in middle XIX century, but not only there: other places where Ayas' products were sold were Crescentino, Santhià, Trino Vercellese, Desana, Casale Monferrato and Palazzolo Vercellese.

In the beginning, Ayas could face the demand, but soon the need grew so widely that it was necessary to the craftsmen to move in Piedmont, for example in the Canavese, or in Monferrato. Ayas' sabotier,in facts, moved to Verrès, Villeneuve, Introd, Cogne, Champdepraz, Antey, Villata, Salasco, Albano Vercellese, Viverne, Ivrea, Asti, Azeglio, Tonengo and Morano Po. By the end if XIX century, a well - known Borbey, from Aosta, decided to produce the sabots using on of those machines, which in France made the galoches; this idea involved a reduction of work's difficulty, and an increase of production. From 1950 on, finally, the demand weaked more and then ended, because of the introduction of boots and shoes in leather and rubber. In 1995, Ayas still counted about 20 sabotiers who, in the local djerg, are called tsacolè. However, modern production is all for tourists and for folklore; in facts, many craftsmen realise mostly Tsoquin, which can be seen on balconies, used as flowerpots.  

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Sabot's production  

On a cartchot, a saw - bench, the craftsman cuts the trunk in pieces as long as he wants the sabot to be long. So, he obtains two big pieces of wood which will be compared to verify if they really look similar, and then they'll be rough - hewed with a piolet, that means an axe. Then the craftsman put the wooden piece on banc di tsoque, the work bench, where he keeps on giving form at the sabot: this passage is called èchapolà. The following part is the forming of the internal part; it is considered an easy work, and that's why it's often made by a beginner; nothwitstanding, he'll surely broke the frontal part of his first pair of sabot. He will use a travèla, a gimlet, to empty the internal part, and he'll finish off this part with a lénguetta, a wing bit. 

Then the craftsman create the heel and the point with a knife. To finish off the sabot, the craftsman use the unmistakable Coutél dè dove man, two hands knife, a particular tool which requires a special protection, the pétsa, a simple piece of wood fastened to craftsman's waist with a leather strap. The final part of the work sees the shaping of the entrance, and that's made with a coutel dréit, a knife with fixed blade. Then, by means of a créyòn di tsoque, a special pencil, the craftsman numbers his sabots; he just have to use the resséòn di tsoque, an hacksaw, to let an iron thread through the entrance, to get the sabot stronger. In a few words, here you are your sabot. An handmade product which will serve you as it has done for generations, or a simple souvenir of your Ayas holiday. However, it's an object which represents a little piece of story, surely more than a little piece of manifactured wood.

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