The Good Life France Magazine January/February 2015 | Page 50

I blinked into the early sun, at the stranger standing on my doorstep. A pointed, green hat with a precarious feather flattened his thinning hair. Clutching a bag of French pastries, his nostrils quivered longingly at my brewing coffee. Defying the rule that says you don’t let strange men wearing elf hats into your home, I invited him in for a cup.

“Would madam like to buy a brioche?

I set a steaming mug in front of him and asked why he was selling brioches. “Raising money for the fête des classes (class party),” he said. Wondering what a class party was, I raised my eyebrows, prompting him to recount the tale of this curious French tradition associated with conscription.

“It started around 1850, in Villefranche–Sur-Saône, I believe,” the man said, sipping his coffee. “Two friends decided to celebrate their 20th birthdays wearing tails and opera hats. They were returning from the drawing of lots, a system of chance used to select army recruits and were such a hit that, in following years other conscripts imitated their attire. Gradually they were joined by men of all the other decades and sometimes even the 100-year-olds wobbled along with the crowd.”

“The custom spread faster than a battle cry,” continued the stranger, smiling at me as I refilled his cup. “On whichever bleak January morning the drawing was held, drum rolls, whistles, bugles, songs of questionable harmony and - later, car horns tooting and vehicles backfiring - pierced the foggy air. Whether they were picked for service or not, the jubilant young men would return to the town centre, acting the goat and yelling out to

FRIENDSHIP, BROTHERHOOD, SOLIDARITY!

by Liza Perrat