What The French?! LE BAL DES POMPIERS
Hello! Sorry about the five million year hiatus! I have no excuse, really.
Despite my being deathly ill, for some reason I felt a burst of energy (thanks, ibuprofen) and decided to tell you about a French tradition. If nothing makes sense, I apologise but everything hurts from the neck up so I can only be held 28% responsible for what I write.
Tomorrow is Bastille Day, the French national day. Besides fireworks, which seems to be the most common way of celebrating a national day, in France we have this little tradition called le bal des pompiers (firemen's ball).
These balls happen in every fire station in France and they're put on by, you guessed it, firemen. Sometimes there's a dress code, sometimes there's a theme, most of the time you just come as you are. What's important to understand is that at the heart of it, le bal des pompiers is a popular party. Everybody's welcome, there are no entrance fees and you're not required to bring anything to the party except for your best dance moves.
To tell you how important these balls are, first I have to tell you about the status of firemen in France. When you're a fireman, you're a hero by default.
It's a very prestigious job and, because you're supposed to be fit to do it, you have a lot of women fawning over you. A fireman walks by in the street, 4 out of 5 women turn around to stare at his ass. A fireman truck comes speeding down the street, 4 out of 5 women crane their necks trying to look into the vehicle and see if the guys inside are attractive.
So yes, firemen are rock stars. Poor things, being objectified like that? Nah, don't worry about them, they take advantage of their status with the ladies.
Look at that old lady, she's SO happy right now:
I honestly have no idea whether firemen are as lusted after in other countries or if it's just in France, but it's quite bad! Personally, I... never really got the appeal? I mean, I established a long time ago that I don't find the David Beckhams of this world attractive at all, so maybe that's why. Anyway.
The second reason firemen's balls are as infamous as they are is that they've been around for what feels like forever. We don't know exactly when the tradition started, but on July 14th, firemen used to hold parties for them and their families in their respective fire stations. It didn't just involve dancing and drinking wine (oh, French clichés), there were also games, theatre performances, friendly gym competitions, and firemen even sometimes elected their Madelon(Miss Firemen, if you will, except it was a little classier than that).
Here's a very quiet version of a firemen's ball, when we dig into the bread and cheese:
In 1937, though, some Parisian firemen were making so much noise and seemed to be having so much fun that people had gathered outside the fire station to see what was going on. One person was bold enough to knock and ask if they could come in. The fireman who answered the door was either inebriated or nice enough to let them in and everyone partied so hard that they all agreed to do it again the year after. Word got out to all the other fire stations in France and it was officiously agreed that bals des pompiers would now be open to all.
Some balls are more famous than others, mostly because the fire stations are bigger and therefore hold more people, but also because the parties have a reputation for being wild.
A bal des pompiers nowadays looks more like a skins party than like the balls my grandma used to go to when she was young.
What my grandmother expects (thanks to my pal Renoir for the illustration):
Orchestras and accordeons have been replaced by DJs and dance music. More importantly, firemen shirk their military aloofness and actually become the strippers who dress up as firemen. I'm not even exaggerating.
What actually happens (the dude on the right about to tap dat ass is a fireman):
I've never been to a bal des pompiers because I don't feel comfortable in what's essentially a temple of lust and drunkenness, but friends of mine have and seemed to enjoy it. If a fireman thinks you're hot, he'll dance with you. Let's be honest, it's the one night when every fireman in France is guaranteed to get laid.
Fun fact: although Bastille Day is on July 14th, nowadays most firemen's balls happen on July 13th. I suspect it's got to do with needing the extra day to nurse your hangover, but I could be wrong!
Despite my being deathly ill, for some reason I felt a burst of energy (thanks, ibuprofen) and decided to tell you about a French tradition. If nothing makes sense, I apologise but everything hurts from the neck up so I can only be held 28% responsible for what I write.
Tomorrow is Bastille Day, the French national day. Besides fireworks, which seems to be the most common way of celebrating a national day, in France we have this little tradition called le bal des pompiers (firemen's ball).
These balls happen in every fire station in France and they're put on by, you guessed it, firemen. Sometimes there's a dress code, sometimes there's a theme, most of the time you just come as you are. What's important to understand is that at the heart of it, le bal des pompiers is a popular party. Everybody's welcome, there are no entrance fees and you're not required to bring anything to the party except for your best dance moves.
To tell you how important these balls are, first I have to tell you about the status of firemen in France. When you're a fireman, you're a hero by default.
It's a very prestigious job and, because you're supposed to be fit to do it, you have a lot of women fawning over you. A fireman walks by in the street, 4 out of 5 women turn around to stare at his ass. A fireman truck comes speeding down the street, 4 out of 5 women crane their necks trying to look into the vehicle and see if the guys inside are attractive.
So yes, firemen are rock stars. Poor things, being objectified like that? Nah, don't worry about them, they take advantage of their status with the ladies.
Look at that old lady, she's SO happy right now:
I honestly have no idea whether firemen are as lusted after in other countries or if it's just in France, but it's quite bad! Personally, I... never really got the appeal? I mean, I established a long time ago that I don't find the David Beckhams of this world attractive at all, so maybe that's why. Anyway.
The second reason firemen's balls are as infamous as they are is that they've been around for what feels like forever. We don't know exactly when the tradition started, but on July 14th, firemen used to hold parties for them and their families in their respective fire stations. It didn't just involve dancing and drinking wine (oh, French clichés), there were also games, theatre performances, friendly gym competitions, and firemen even sometimes elected their Madelon(Miss Firemen, if you will, except it was a little classier than that).
Here's a very quiet version of a firemen's ball, when we dig into the bread and cheese:
In 1937, though, some Parisian firemen were making so much noise and seemed to be having so much fun that people had gathered outside the fire station to see what was going on. One person was bold enough to knock and ask if they could come in. The fireman who answered the door was either inebriated or nice enough to let them in and everyone partied so hard that they all agreed to do it again the year after. Word got out to all the other fire stations in France and it was officiously agreed that bals des pompiers would now be open to all.
Some balls are more famous than others, mostly because the fire stations are bigger and therefore hold more people, but also because the parties have a reputation for being wild.
A bal des pompiers nowadays looks more like a skins party than like the balls my grandma used to go to when she was young.
What my grandmother expects (thanks to my pal Renoir for the illustration):
Orchestras and accordeons have been replaced by DJs and dance music. More importantly, firemen shirk their military aloofness and actually become the strippers who dress up as firemen. I'm not even exaggerating.
What actually happens (the dude on the right about to tap dat ass is a fireman):
I've never been to a bal des pompiers because I don't feel comfortable in what's essentially a temple of lust and drunkenness, but friends of mine have and seemed to enjoy it. If a fireman thinks you're hot, he'll dance with you. Let's be honest, it's the one night when every fireman in France is guaranteed to get laid.
Fun fact: although Bastille Day is on July 14th, nowadays most firemen's balls happen on July 13th. I suspect it's got to do with needing the extra day to nurse your hangover, but I could be wrong!