The Bavarian Hat

Domrémy, Birthplace of Jeanne d’Arc

May 1, 2025

Domrémy, the birthplace of Jeanne d’Arc

Pin # 2

This pin is for Domrémy, the birthplace of Jeanne d’Arc, or as she is known in English, Joan of Arc.

Our family took a day trip to the birthplace and home of Joan of Arc, Domrémy, in northeastern France. I remember a basket full of baguettes on the bus for lunch and returning home with a glow-in-the-dark Joan of Arc statue. After the visit, I talked to the statue at night and put her under my pillow. I loved that statue and developed a love for this Maid d’Orléans from that play. And even at that young age, her story of hearing voices from God and burning at the stake left an impression.

I was surprised when, years later, two of my students wanted to write a report on her. From childhood memory, I had no idea this Maid was a heroine revered by young women today. She is admired for her bravery and audacity in getting access to help a future King of France and for taking it for granted that her visions were essential and authentic that, for a short, significant time, the right people believed her And believed in her mission.

While that statue was essential to me as a child, I now understand that she was crucial to helping France regain its independence. While some doubted her, thankfully for her, two soldiers believed her when she discussed her “vis” ons “e” piece” lly when she could describe a battle before it occurred. They took her to Charles, the disinherited rightful king of France. Charles was exiled from his country during the Hundred Years’ War in England.

She was dressed as a boy in armor and taken to Charles. She was only a teenager when she was sent, and he was a young man in his twenties. He also believed she was genuine when she shared visions about his inmost thoughts, which he only shared with God, or so my research revealed.

I had no idea that this pin on the Bavarian hat and this childhood memory was so important—historically and personally.

Joan of Arc led the French soldiers to victory against the odds and eventually escorted Charles to be inaugurated as King Charles VII in 1429 at Reims. This is what her visions told her needed to be done.

I have that a new movie will be made soon, adding to the several already made about this inspiring woman who had visions and, just as importantly, was believed. This is the part that intrigues me and satisfies me the most.

Domrémy: The birthplace of Joan of Arc.

May 1, 2025

This pin is of Domrémy, the birthplace of Jeanne d’Arc, also known as Joan of Arc in English.

Our family took a day trip to the birthplace and home of Joan of Arc: Domrémy in northeastern France. I remember being impressed by the basket full of baguettes on the bus for our picnic lunch there and of my returning home with a glow-in-the-dark Joan of Arc statue. I talked to the statue at night and put her under my pillow. I loved that statue and developed a love for this Maid d’Orléans from that play.

I was surprised when, years later, two of my students wanted to write a report on her. I had no idea that this maid from a childhood memory was a heroine revered by young women today. She is admired for her bravery and audacity in helping to establish the future King of France, and I took for granted that her visions were important, but didn’t realize that her feats were common knowledge among some young women these days.

While that statue was important to me as a child, I now realize that it was also important to France. While some doubted her, thankfully, two soldiers believed her when she discussed her “visions,” especially when she could describe a battle before it had occurred. They took her to Charles, the disinherited rightful king of France during the Hundred Years’ War with England. Charles was exiled in his own country.

She was dressed as a boy in armor and taken to the future king– she was a teenager, and he was a young man in his twenties. He also believed she was genuine when she shared visions about his inmost thoughts, which he only shared with God, or so I found in my research.

I had no idea that this pin on the Bavarian hat and this childhood memory was so important—both historically and personally.

I’ve also learned that a new movie will be made soon, adding to the several already made about this inspiring woman who had visions and, just as importantly, was believed. This is the part that intrigues me.

Sadly, after helping Charles become king, she was put through a sham trial and burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431. Charles exonerated her after her death, and she was canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.

I had no idea this iconic young woman, whom I remembered as a glow-in-the-dark statue, had a following.

I checked if there were any glow-in-the-dark statues online; I did not find any, but I did find other kinds of statues available, perhaps more fitting for me now.

The Bavarian Hat. The first pin: Roma

April 1, 2025

The pin from Rome (Roma) is at the top of the hat – because, at one time, all roads lead to Rome. It was the center of the universe for much of the ancient Western world. Some of the memories I have of Rome include standing at the bottom of the steps of the Trevi Fountain. Vendors set up shop, sitting on the sides of the steps, and tourists walked up and down the middle. Did it seem like steps because I was small? My memories blend with movies I’ve seen and may not be completely reliable about the facts. We threw coins and made wishes. I do remember that!

I also associate this pin with the Coliseum. We walked between the fountain and the Coliseum and looked down on it. We must have been on a hill. I was five and six when we collected the pins for this hat, so, indeed, some details are vague. But still, others are vivid: I can hear the water splashing from the fountain and still see the statues of the horses.

For me, this mosaic pin represents Rome. I remember someone asking me when I was in 3rd grade, which part of Europe I liked the most, and I answered Rome, Italy. Who’s to say that early experiences don’t matter or that children are too young to be affected by what they see? Some of the memories of the pins are as fresh as yesterday. Yesterday, becoming today.

Bavarian Hat Blog

The first pin: Roma

My Class Picture

March 1, 2025

My class picture from the time we lived there shows students who are from distinctly German backgrounds and others from distinctly French heritage. One young man looks like he might be Moroccan, but I’m not sure. If you can’t figure out where I am in the picture, I’ll take that as a compliment. Look for me with long blonde hair and blunt bangs, so different from the other children. I am a little taller than the other students. Perhaps I was a year older than my classmates? I don’t know. But, ironically, my teacher placed me right in the middle of the class. Find me now? The memories of being the only American in a French-speaking classroom left an indelible impression on me.

Map of Europe

February 1, 2025

This is a map of Europe that can be used to show the locations we visited as children. We lived in France, in the Alsace-Lorraine area, which has moved between France and Germany throughout the history that these two countries have shared. It was an area that became the roadway during major wars.

The map will document where we drove in an old ’51 Ford and then in a ’57 Mercedes. We took road trips organized by our parents to museums, cathedrals, WWI & II cemeteries, battlefields, and castles. My mother always packed a food suitcase, and we often ate in old, empty houses that dotted the countryside if we found one. The buildings were strategically placed to store ammunition in WWII. I remember one along the Mediterranean where the wind blew so hard, we couldn’t even talk against it. These structures were not just for storage. I think they were also used for cover in battle.

Because I saw former battle fields and cemeteries from WWI and II as a child, remember cathedrals with scaffolding and in states of repair, and grew up in a family where Dag Hammarskjöld, the second secretary-general of the United Nations, was a household word, I become emotional about the War in Ukraine or when harsh words are spoken about NATO, as though the collective past can somehow be forgotten or erased. I feel the pain of a country at war in ways I cannot describe. Was it all of the cemeteries we saw? All of the sites of battles in the past? I don’t know, but I wish we could understand how a child’s education begins at a very young age. These hats can serve as a reference point for the pins, and by the end, I’ll note the sites discussed on the map.

These early memories have left a lasting impression.

Three views of a Bavarian hat

January 1, 2025

I had three sisters, and we each had a Bavarian hat with pins that recorded our travels in Europe. This is the hat from one of my sisters, since her hat is better preserved than mine. Some of her pins are from her own time when she lived in Germany. These pins will be reviewed one by one as I recall or investigate the location. There are a few, I must admit, that I have to look up, as this travel is from the mid-1950s! That said, many of these pins bring out a memory or experience that is seared in my memory. Early childhood experiences can have a profound impact on a person.

The charms or pins will be selected in random order. That said, I did start with the pin from Rome. How many times did our father say, “All roads led to Rome?”