The Good: throwing Ladles from the town hall in Comines; 2 kilos down, 6 more to go;

The Bad: paperwork (again); not getting paid till end of November; falling Aussie dollar not doing me any favours; confusion about the buses going to and from Comines.

The Ugly: complete and utter disorganisation at my school

Comines: Fete Historique des Louches

Poster for Fete Historique des Louches

I may or may not mentioned the geants: the large papier mache people which belong to each town here in the north of France, especially in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and southern Belgium. They’re wheeled out for particular historical festivals. I found out that in Comines, a small town to the north of Lille, which is half in Belgium, and half in France, would have a local festival last weekend; after discovering it was well within reach by public transport, I headed over there for the Fete des Louches on Sunday.

I knew nothing about it except that ‘louches’ meant ‘ladle’ and that there would be a costume parade. The program mentioned something about ‘jeter les louches’ – jeter means ‘to throw’ – and was a little curious about what that would entail.

Well.

Comines is a really nice day trip out of Lille. It’s in the middle of farmland, and has a UNESCO heritage listed beffroi (bell tower – theres a bunch of UNESCO listed belltowers in the north of France). Getting there was relatively easy – the Transpole #18 or #36 buses leaving from Lille Flandres Gare, or the Transpole Liane #1 bus leaving from Grand Palais or Republique Beaux Arts in Lille, gets you there in 40 minutes, takes you right to the city centre – or should, except when you go during a festival, and you’re made to walk a kilometre from the outskirts because the roads are closed – and because it’s Transpole, it was covered by my usual weekly commute ticket, so I didn’t even have to pay to get there (for those of you at home, ‘Transpole’ is Lille’s equivalent of the ‘Adelaide Metro’ meaning all buses, trams and trains use the same ticket.)

Looking towards Grand Place and St Chrysole in Comines

So, I’d had to walk from the outskirts, which worried me a little because I really didn’t know where I was going, but knew I was in the right place when I turned the corner and saw what could only be ‘L’Eglise Saint-Chrysole‘ – a somewhat oriental (‘neo-byzantin’, apparently) art deco church (with what appears to be concrete cancer), built between the World Wars.

St Chrysole at Sunset

It was closed due to the festivities, but I would’ve loved to see inside it.

The beffroi is down right unreal, it’s bizarre and beautiful, with a slight oriental/eastern feel. The ‘Hotel de Ville’ (town hall) and beffroi were built in the 20’s, in Flemish style.

Mairie and Beffroi of Comines (French side)

Comines is a half French city, half Belgian. Apparently this entire area of France used to Belgian, and vice versa; hence the frequent Flemish architecture clashing with Renaissance architechture throughout Nord-Pas-de-Calais. In fact, both sections are joined by this bridge:

Bridge to Belgium

River Lily, seperating two countries.

I still can’t get over the relationship between Schengen countries (for those playing at home, Schengen countries are those in Europe which don’t require border controls when moving from one to the other – such as France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Italy etc.). A Melbourner I’ve met here lives near the Belgian border, and regularly goes for a run over there; here, in Comines, I wandered back and forth between Belgium and France. For an Aussie that’s simply unreal.

Of course, historically, Comines (France) and Comines-Warneton (Belgium) were the same city, so it’s pretty much not that much different on the otherside (the language is even the same, as it’s Walloon Belgium). Anyway, continuing.

There was a medieval market, with mostly pageant participants wandering around in costume, and not many shoppers. I’d arrived in the day too early – most of the festivities, stalls and rides weren’t to open till mid-late afternoon. All you cosplayers back home, northern France is your place to be: seriously, they take their costumes seriously here. Wait till you see the Roman soldiers in the Youtube clip I’m going to do.

Medieval market.

On the Belgian side, I found the geants, who would later feature in the parade, waiting patiently outside a church (the parade starting point).

Buchard (left) et Messire (right) des Comines

Grande Gueuloute et P'tite Chorchire

So, from French Wikipedia, I have been able to determine that ‘Grand Gueuloute’ – a ribbon maker – and ‘P’tite Chorchire’ – a maker of ‘macaroons’ (a traditional cake) – have been around since the 1880’s (yes, that is how old those geants are). In 1984, Buchard de Comines appeared, in memory of the lord of Comines who went to the crusades; followed by the Lord de Comines in 1987, who wears the costume of the ‘brotherhood’ of Comines, and proudly holds a ladle.

After checking these guys out, people were starting to line up for the parade. I grabbed myself a possie on the bridge, and so began the afternoon’s festivities.

This festival, in its current form, has been going on since the late 1880’s, but has been around in some way since the 1600’s. I wasn’t able to find a definitive origin, something to do with a Duke who was locked away in a castle. He alerted some tradesmen, who were working in the dungeons (? I think), to his predicament by throwing his wooden eating utensils out the window. Anyway, I found these: posters of the festival dating back to the 1900’s:

The parade was quite amusing. The floats represent interpretations of the history of Comines, and are prepared by locals according to different themes each year. Many of the costumes would make Kelly B drool with delight, paricularly the Roman soldiers in full legion battle gear. There is a YouTube clip which will give you a better idea of the festival, but here are some of the best pics from it.

Sheep

Best costumes of the day: The Roman Legion

Friars Brass Band

Buchard de Comines

Crusader Brass Band

Belly Dancer Kids

Gypsy Bards

Spahis Algerias

'Nun' on the float representing the local Hospital

I think these guys represented the Napoleonic era

At this point I moved to around the corner, near the Town Hall.

Gymnastics girls - very very cute

Two other geants, whose names I dont know with the Town Hall in the background

The Damoiselle des Louches and her maidens in a giant louche

Messire de Comines and his ladle trailed at the end of the parade

Guy representing important person - perhaps the duke who was imprisoned?

More important people

Comines medieval marching band

Another marching band

The Belgian Comines Brass Band. Far more impressively dressed than the French Comines Brass Band.

The 'Brotherhood of Comines' (made of event organisers, the mayors of both French/Belgian Comines and other town officials) ready their 'louches' to throw into the crowd (actually wooden spoons with a burnt emblem). These guys were absolutely delighted to peg wooden spoons at the waiting maddening public. It was only a sign of what was to come.

Peekaboo out of a geants skirt

The Brotherhood walks with a mother of a ladle

The Mayors of both French and Belgian Comines ready to jeter des louches

So comes the main event of the day. Yes, they literally were going to ‘throw the ladles’. And not just the small wooden spoons which they threw from the float, but actual, big, heavy, old school wooden ladles.

Damoiselle des Louches and her ladies ready for action

What follows can only be seen in movie form, so I’ve put together a short You Tube clip. The crowd was vicious in their attempts to secure a ladle; in fact, it was pretty disgusting. Though I’d've really liked one, I wasn’t willing to risk my life getting involved. Kids cried. It was like the mosh pit of hell. I think the bespectacled damoiselle-lady in yellow was aiming for me (!), but unfortunately her aim was off and I was too scared to get into the scuffles that erupted over the ladles.

Seriously, these ladles were big, the crowd was insane, and some people were suicidal in their efforts to get a ladle.

It was brilliant!

Ladles flying from the windows of the Town Hall.

So, after it finished, the mass crowd that had gathered dispersed pretty quickly – most to go on the rides or play with the amusements (there was a pretty long alley filled with them). Everyone else started heading home, some teen boys carrying four or five ladles each.

Kid plays with his ladle.

I wish I’d managed to get one, but was happy enough to take shots of kids playing with them.

You Tube Clip of Comines Fete des Louches

Make sure you select the high quality version, if available, you can’t see the ladles hurtling towards peoples heads otherwise!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gVXH_F8vQk

Update:

One of the official filmers for the Jet des Louches has put a couple of You Tube Clips up: watch to get an idea of just how many people turned up for the jetting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-O9iKHWeiw&NR=1