I did some research and learned a lot, but probably came away with more questions than answers.
Every community in Southern France has it's own story to tell. I am intrigued by the town coats of arms, many of which have been around in one form or another for hundreds of years. The towns that I will be visiting are all within a 50 mile radius, but they pride themselves on separate identities and one can imagine that they spoke separate dialects at one time.
Sometimes searching the web can turn up a description of the symbols, sometimes not. The first one below is Avignon which was the seat of the Pope (or false Pope, depending on who you ask) from 1309 to 1377. I am guessing that the three keys tie to the Papal symbol of the Keys to Heaven. Everywhere else that I see them, there are two, and they are crossed - I have a few guesses, but not entirely sure why Avignon gets three.
The one with the cow is from Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt, and I tried investigating this a few years ago. I asked at the Tourism Office, but I think I was the first person to ask that question and they suggested a visit to the town hall, but it was closed that day. So I am still pretty hazy about this one. Closest that I could get was translating from online French and confirming that the cow and star are gold, and the cross is silver. Educated guess is that the star relates to the Virgin Mary, and the cross is connected to the Knights Templar. But the cow?
The simple graphic with the stripes is from Forcalquier, but I can't find any more about the background.
Saint Michael and the Scales of Hesed (I had to look that one up) adorn the crest of Saint-Michel-l'Observatoire, home of the Haute-Provence Observatory, a modern astronomical observatory.
Three calabash are naturally the symbol of Gordes, and I have to admit that I never made that connection before.
Initially clueless, I found a website at Araltas-dot-com which has generalized, but poetic, descriptions of heraldic symbols:
Moon = Serene power over mundane actions
Sun = Glory and splendor; fountain of life
Hand = Pledge of faith, sincerity, and justice
Color Blue = Truth and loyalty
This one from Robion, is not so obvious either.
The Dolphin with the crown represents the heir apparent to the throne - Le Dauphin de France.
I knew of the term, but don't know why the dolphin represents him.
Carpenter's Square = Conforming one's actions to the laws of right and equity
This is a little more direct, representing the village of Vaison-la-Romaine, but I can't find a translation anywhere. Sault has an icon that is a little difficult for me. It would be easier if I could identify the creature. Fox? (nope), Griffin? (nope, no wings). Wolf? - Google Translate finally helped with "money to the armed azure wolf rampant and langued gules" which is NO help, except for the wolf part. (turns out, with further research, that rampant in this case means standing one one foot, and langued gules is red tongue, in obscure English - no doubt still in use only for the NY Times crossword crowd)
