these traditions which recreate a link in the countryside

“Go and encourage him, please.” Make noise. Under the sun, the candidate, waterproof for public pressure, launches her projectile as a frisbee. Which turns into the sky to fall back a few meters further, dismantling in part, under cheers. This is not a classic disc … but a dried cow dung! “In the event of a wind, it can sometimes come across the public, but it does not hurt,” reassures Bénédicte Bouffard-Gourlot, one of the organizers of the Bouses launching competition, one of the essentials of the agricultural party of Porchères (Gironde).

Competitions like this one, we count hundreds in France! Launch Tongs in Lacanau (Gironde) and Menhirs in Guerlesquin (Finistère), spitting beefs in Sibiril (Finistère) or shrimp sheaping in Leffrinckoucke (North), harvesting-combine races in Guérande (Loire-Atlantique) or pedal tractors at Damomartin-lès-Remiremont (Vosges) Imitation of the cry of the hen that lays in Ledringhem (North) or the pig in Trie-sur-Baïse (Hautes-Pyrénées) … The most hung stomachs even go so far as to ingest the maximum of possible sausages in Morteau (Doubs) or oysters in Bouin (Vendée). Non -exhaustive list!

Imitation of animals, pedal tractor race

Energize the villages

These far -fetched competitions have precedents. The boys ‘boys and soap boys’ races date from the first half of the 20th century. In Westhoffen (Bas-Rhin), we spit cherry nuclei since 1997, because members of the organizing committee of the Cherry Festival had attended a similar competition in Italy. But thanks to the development of social networks and filming of TV emissions, they offer themselves a new resonance fund and arouse vocations. “I had seen a chair race on a roller in Japan on social networks, confirms Guillaume Jaillon, a youth referent in a Social Center in Dreamons (Oise). Last summer, for our second edition at the municipal party, we had 25 to 30 competitors. »»

Some find their place in the local landscape after an eclipse. In Chaource (Aube), the competition from the biggest cheese eater, as part of the May 1st fair, died twenty-five years ago before reborn in 2023. In Castelnau-Rivière-Basse (Hautes-Pyrénées), an association has just rehabilitated the race of roller beds, with two shoots and a sleeper, which had had its glory time in the 1990s. The idea was to boost the village party a bit, for that the unusual works, says Alexis Capberbet. Last year, our proposal attracted a share of audiences that would not necessarily have come otherwise. »»

Most organizers say: when the eccentric competition is part of a wider event – village party, agricultural party, etc. -, it relaunches interest, attendance and can even be the engine. “This type of event brings a refreshing side in the traditional partition”, adds the artist Charlie Moine, founder of the festival committee (mobile), a structure which offers outgoing animations to the organizers of festivities. “And under their apparent absurd side, they contribute to social cement. »»

Promote the local specialty

Participants confirm this collective dimension. Clarice has launched jugs in Sadirac (Gironde) for ten years. “My mother and my brother were forty-five minutes to be. With my sister, we joined them. To do something with the family. Nadège, a bronze dung and two of money to his credit, registered in the porchic competition “with friends just to have fun. It reminds me of my childhood on the side of Blaye, the games intervening with wheelbarrow races. »»

Between the desire to have fun without any pretension and the desire to support the organizers who struggle each year to bring these local festivals to life, “the strength of these competitions very often is due to what they require no particular skills”, notes the sociologist Philippe Steiner, who studied the Bayonne celebrations, where there is a famous jet -launching competition. “No one really takes that seriously, it’s a tradition of nice foolishness, all the more arguing that everyone can participate, old, young people, women, men. It is also a way to show that we belong to the group, or even enhance your place, because you know how to behave in festive moments. The important thing is not really to win, especially since the lot often consists of a few vouchers or local products.

“Is creativity inseparable from the competitive spirit? »»
Pierre Joliot-Curie
scientist (born in 1932)

Promote local heritage

If they appear eccentric, a large part of these competitions are not disconnected from the local heritage. When you throw jugs in Sadirac, it is because you are in a potter village; When you peel potatoes and eats as many fries as possible in Dizy-le-Gros (Aisne), it is because the potato is cultivated all around the town … in Hézo (Morbihan), the wacky race in plank hooves (small boards as shoes) on vase is another example: “For a long time, fishermen were going to fish on the vase with the vase, Remember Mireille Le Pochat, municipal councilor. With this race as part of the Gulf week, a maritime event, this memory is transmitted. And we have fun, because it’s very funny to see them run a hundred meters like this! »Attracting the public, laughing and promoting local heritage, decidedly, the unusual is not lacking in assets!

The world record in the Jura cauldron

With 2,177.5 kg of cheese, Jurassians broke, in February, the world record for the biggest fondue! They should enter Book Guinness of Records. Start of pétanque at 126 m under the ground, the largest sugar pie, the world’s longer scarf in the world, the local press is full of attempts that push the challenge to the point of aiming for an authority.

A way to be talked about, but also to weld a team around a challenge, which, to be validated, will still require the arrival of an organization’s judge or a bailiff, therefore causing some additional costs.