It appears that the two young women seen in this portrait are dressed and ready for the French Carnival. The festival occurs after the “Feast of Fools” and has been a tradition since the sixteenth century or earlier. The girls in the photograph of this vintage real photo postcard are dressed as gypsies and holding stereotypical tambourines. The girls are about in their teenage years. They were photographed by Monsieur Henry of Chalon-Sur-Saone, France. The city is located in the south of the Burgundy region of that nation. I wonder what the fascination is with gypsies? The obsession is apparent when one looks at postcards from around the turn of the century (1800’s to the 1900’s). An observer of these postcards will see gypsies here, there, and everywhere. Perhaps visitors to the cabinet card gallery would like to hypothesize about this cultural phenomenon. I would appreciate your input. Now, back to this postcard. The previous owner of this postcard translated the message as “Remember with affection your little girlfriend. A thousand kisses, Germaine”. My guess is that the shorter woman in this image is Mlle Germaine. SOLD
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 
The “gypsies” we see on TV and huge populations across the globe, are not what these girls are emulating. – Heaven forbid. I was a perennial gypsy every Halloween, when I was a girl. It was akin to being a fairy, but with scarves and mother’s old hoop earrings and chocolate coin bracelets or what-not. I would certainly dance like a fairy. – Oh, and all the fun makeup my older sister painted my face with. It was gypsy magic. – It’s all based on the happy fantasy of free, passionate, colorful and exotic people. That’s all. – Can you imagine anyone you know playing the tamborine (spl?)? They dance dirty, – but a tamborine?
The girls are very sweet. The one on the left is quite lovely. I hope they had a magical time. – Thanks CC!