Empty streets in La Ciotat. But this isn't the only reason why citizens here may be spared from the coronavirus. It has to do with an unusual sanitary practice dating back to the plague. More, in today's story.
Today's Word: épargner
: to spare
Click here to listen to Jean-Marc read the French below:
La Peste épargne La Ciotat. Grâce aux mesures sanitaires, au courage des femmes, la cité maritime se préserve du terrible fléau. -Frequence Sud.fr
La Ciotat is spared the plague. Thanks to sanitary measures, and to the courage of the women, the maritime city preserves itself from the terrible plague.
Epargner was word of the day on Dec. 15, 2008, with an alternative meaning
A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE by Kristi Espinasse
Since President Emmanuel Macron declared the current Covid-19 pandemic une guerre sanitaire we, along with many countries, have been careful to respect the government-imposed confinement. Each night our family gathers to watch the news, to learn how Paris and Grand Est are faring. Yesterday, when Prime Minister Edouard Philippe warned the virus is spreading quickly to other parts of the Hexagone, and that protective gestures are now a matter of life and death, we all felt a chill creep in.
"This will be the end of La Bise for the rest of France…" our son, Max, predicted.
THE END OF THE KISS
Currently, all French are practicing les gestes barrières, including no more bises, or "salutation kisses"–a habit that's been easiest to break for citizens of our town because we've been out of the habit for 250 years. As those of you who have visited La Ciotat can attest, our seaside town is the only place in France that does not practice la bise. The ritual kiss was ended during the 18-century plague, where La Ciotat had the lowest mortality rate.
WOMEN WRESTLE THE TOWN FREE FROM THE VIRUS
According to town records, if La Ciotat survived La Peste, it was thanks to an army of determined women who guarded the city ramparts, literally pushing the fleeing Marseillais and other non-Ciotadens off of the mur de peste.
Mur de la peste. Plague walls such as this one can be seen around La Ciotat. photo from Wikipedia
Pierre-Edouard Lemontey writes: Le petit port de la Ciotat échappa au fléau par la sévérité des femmes, qui se chargèrent seules d'en garder les avenues. The small port of La Ciotat escaped the scourge by the severity of the women, who were responsible for guarding the avenues alone.
It is not clear what the men–Les Ciotadens–were doing during the epidemic (playing boules, as we will soon see?), but according to numerous sources including our city's website, the bravery and efforts of les femmes Ciotadennes saved the town. Having survived the plague, La Ciotat would go on to become the birthplace of cinema, as well as the town where boules or petanque was invented.
This brings us to Fanny. All who are familiar with the popular game of petanque will recall the Kiss Fanny tradition. According to this Petanque site:
Being fanny (être fanny) means losing a game of boules or pétanque without scoring a single point— losing 13 to zero. (In the USA, we call that a “shutout” game.) Having to kiss Fanny is the ultimate humiliation for boules players everywhere.
You do not have to literally kiss someone's derriere… a photo or a statue will do…
THE BUM BONJOUR
If you ask me, this unusual ritual is second only in humiliation to another tradition, known by locals as La Fanny. This bonjour gesture involves, as you guessed, the fanny or behind, and dates back from the time when La Bise or social greeting kiss was outlawed in an attempt to protect citizens from the plague, which had already killed 60 percent of nearby Marseilles' population.
Centuries before the elbow bump would be the socially acceptable salutation during a pandemic, those brave French women who guarded the cobbled streets of La Ciotat came up with a new way to greet: They called it "La Fanny" in honor of the bravest in their Bubonic army. Their heroine, Fanny, returning home from an exhaustive day wrestling plague-ridden subjects over the fence, and in a bid to protect her family/friends from catching the malady that she herself might be harboring, refused la bise. Turning away her cheek and pulling her arms close lest they carry traces of the disease, Fanny jiggled her bum in what would become a quaint and cheeky bonjour.
LA CIOTAT'S CHEEKY HELLO
The tradition caught on and all citizens began using the new, more sanitary, greeting, affectionately known as La Fanny. To this day our town is the only place in France that does not practice la bise–instead, it does the bum greet.
I admit this was the main reason I ruled out The Cheeky City back when we sold our vineyard and needed to move on. Sanary! Bandol! La Cadière! I begged Jean-Marc–anywhere but La Ciotat. As someone who is easily embarrassed, I knew I could not bear to greet our new neighbors via a–pardon my French–"butt bonjour."
BUMMED (A WHOLE NEW MEANING BEHIND BEHIND)
But when Jean-Marc found this charming bungalow with a yard where I could plant my permaculture garden, I was bummed (in another sense of the word)! Reading up on the culture of the bum bonjour–La Fanny–I learned there are many ways to practice the cheeky greeting. There is a version or… a bum for everyone! Everything from….
The well-heeled/upper-class/Aristocratic Fanny (involving a slight turn to show your backside…a bum curtsy if you will… to the casual/blue-collar Fanny (a no-shame jiggle-jiggle-jiggle of the derrière!)–all are fitting and acceptable ways to say hello here in La Ciotat (but don't try this in Paris–or be regarded as a country bum-kin).
DON'T SHAKE HANDS – SHAKE YOUR BOOTY!
Beyond Paris and the countryside, other countries would do well to follow our cheeky example here in La Ciotat and avoid passing along an illness. Anglophones, for example, could shake their booty instead of shaking hands. So remember: Don't shake. Shake, shake, shake! instead.
Somewhere in the midst of it all, I have found my own comfortably conservative version of La Fanny. Please stand with me now and let's practice the bum bonjour together. Here we go….
Show us your backside…
and…
Jiggle-jiggle-jiggle! (giggle giggle giggle)….
I call this version the "April Fools' Fanny!" Enjoy it and be sure to share it with a friend.
Kristi
P.S. If this was your first April Fools of the day, let me know in the comments, below–or tell us what jokes have already been played on you. I leave you with a picture of my sister-in-law and me greeting family à la Fanny. Both of us are doing the April 1st version, bien sûr! That's Cécile pointing out the Jean-Marc is doing it the wrong way! Isn't that what siblings are for? To help us with our social étiquette? 🙂
P.P.S. As usual, your corrections are most helpful and appreciated. See a typo or a grammar mistake? Let me know in the comments and thanks in advance!
I hope you enjoyed today's history lesson, a reprieve from the news. And while the bum bonjour may not spare us from COVID-19, staying home will help save lives! Take care everyone. Stay home. Before long we will all be kissing again! Vive la bise!
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Hi Kristi,
Wow, for the first time in my reading of your posts, the text was filled with Google ads. How annoying. Did I do something wrong? Or is this the new norm?
Hi Meredith, Sorry about this. I noticed the same and am not sure why this happened today. Let me see if I can tone them down….
Well, Kristi, i fell for it this year. But i have an excuse…it is almost 3 am here in California and i forgot the date. You really do a good job on catching people. Stay safe. Town is very quiet, but people are walking down by the beach. One is allowed to take their dog for a walk …..never seen so many dogs. As I drove by yesterday I counted 29! I am sticking to the residential streets(we have no sidewalks_ Take care.
Joyeux le jour poisson d’avail.
Tres amusant.
Ronni
Well you certainly got me .A very clever one Kristi ! I began to suspect around the bum wiiggle . I think my ‘assistants’ might fear for my sanity
Anyway here’s one for you !!
Well done Kristie!
First thing I read this morning … perhaps it was because I had not yet had a cup of coffee,, but you got me hook , line & sinker 💕
Bonjour Kristi. Une bonne lecture. Je dois parler avec mon petit fils de 13 ans par face time en français et avant notre meeting électronique je vais lui envoyer cette lecture que nous pourrons discuter (VT- FL). Ici al
La plage c’est magnifique
Merci pour cette histoire qui me fait bien rire!
Bum! I fell for that one!!! I know the region quite well but not La Ciotat and was about to comment that it was a very illuminating article, then just at the end I read your April Fools remark and realised I’d been had! Well done – I’m going to try the article on someone else and see if they fall for it to…
With the 2 metre rule in force here and the fact that I’m quarantined in my house for 14 days I totally forgot about poisson d’avril and of course being 3:00 am also fogged my brain. Yes you got me!
As for the google ads….yes they are extremely annoying, however as I like your blogs it will take more than this to make me say adieu instead of à la prochaine
Brilliant! And rather believable. You got me last year as well. It really makes sense in this time of corona. I actually pictured Fanny doing the butt salutation in the 15th century. My imagination loves your imagination.
Turn-wiggle-wiggle-giggle-giggle!!
Thank you very much, Jerry. Thanks for sticking with me and bon courage for this confinement.
You got me too, Kristi, until I read the comments!!
On April 1st 1985 I called my the hopefully-to be-husband to ask him: ‘Will you marry me?” I lived in Ohio then and he in the Netherlands. I hesitated for 6 years to take the final step and now I was complying with his agitated words: “If you want to marry me YOU WILL HAVE TO ASK ME.” ON April 1st I quit my job, went home and called him. When I popped the question he said: “I’ll have to think about it…” Firstly, he thought it was an April Fools’ Day joke. Secondly, his ex-wife had recently made contact to explore a new contact with him. I screamed (a little theatre always helps) and, yes, he said YES! We have now been happily married for 35 years……
Hello Kristi, you didn’t fool me this time! In fact, as soon as I woke up I thought of you, and hoped for an April Fool’s Day post. This was a good one! Thanks for a bit of distraction in these difficult times. Stay home, and stay safe!
Totally fell for it!! LOL!
Is the part about La Ciotat escaping the plague based in fact? I’ve seen murs de peste in the Luberon, so that part seemed somewhat believable.
Never too old to learn something new!
Trying out the Fanny in sunny Sarasota Florida
@ 75
John
You got me and it was the first April fools I had read. It was just after lunch and I had remarked to my husband that usually by now there would have been many flying around. I rather like the idea of the but bonjour and was going to teach my village as soon as all of this was over! Well done it cheered me up immensely. Thanks for your blog. I look forward to it. Brigid
Hi, Elizabeth, yes, La Ciotat did indeed have the least amount of deaths, and credit is given to the women who guarded the streets and kept back the outsiders from beyond the city border. The pest walls did exist. The one in the photo is near Avignon.
Pas de poissons? Ou sont-ils?
Wonderful story! Thanks for sharing it and many more happy years ahead for you two.
💕
Hooked! line & sinker! xx Gabrielle
Salut Mike, The fish are definitely missing from this story. I need to somehow work them into the tall tale…pin them somewhere! Meantime, they are probably swimming out there in the bay. Since the confinement, our Mediterranean waters are filled with tuna and other fish locals havent seen in a very long time!
You got me – I fell for it! But, these days I am following the stay at home mandate. Half the time I don’t know what day of the week it is even though I’m teleworking.
I certainly enjoyed your April Food’s joke!
Well played once again, Kristi ! A terrific poisson d’Avril to lift the spirits. Restez en bonne santé et tenez bon !
Hi Kristi, that was a good one! I totally fell for it! The story with the plague and the ladies was also interesting. Keep up the good work!
My first April Fools trick of the day. You got me, Kristi. Trois Bisous.
You got me – although I did think The Fanny was a bit crazy – just chalked it up to joi d’vivre. Not sure of spelling. Great way to start my day. Enjoyed the post.
Yesterday was the meeting day for Don and me. The reason was my…er…derriere. More later….we have been together for 45 years💕
Oh, Christine, you got me good! Just woke up after 9 hours of sleep here in Virginia, a little groggy and reading my email, dazed and amazed by your story…..even up through the fanny kissing picture, until the jiggle jiggle….when I realized the date and the absurdity at the same time. Love your posts, as usual, and love finding a bright spot in this quarantined world. Stay safe, stay well.
First April Fools you got me! And based on folks needing to keep our distances it’s no wonder…
Plus you hit on one of my biggest cultural yuks(!) about France as a gross, unhygienic display of feigned delight. The nurse in me just cannot abide it. My mother-in-law is the only person I will readily greet like this with her unbelievably smooth cheeks that are a delight to feel against mine. Otherwise doing a little sneeze gesture and waving my hand in that “Ooo, you don’t want to catch my cold!” at the exact moment someone moves in for the kill is my go-to method of avoiding La Bise. Let’s hope one good thing comes out of the awful happenings: no more kissy face France dance. Auxerre-style is no less than four air lip puckers. Good riddance.
Kristi,
Well I hate to admit it but I was totally taken in. Having been to La Ciotat , I didn’t remember seeing this happening and when we met we met you and JM we did the French bises. But who knows, maybe I just missed it. Now I have to admit that hadn’t had my cup of coffee yet and I forgot that it was APRIL 1st, so I guess that I can be excused for believing. Well done! 🤣
Stay safe and stay healthy.
Xoxo Kathleen
Good job!
My, goodnees, Kristi, you fool me every year!
I was half way through when I remembered the date. Brava again sweet Kristen!
You were the first! Again! I always look forward to your poisson rouge stories! Merci!
Alanna
You got me even after years of knowing this is one of your favorite pranks to pull!
I too blame the virus and a dearth of coffee for my gullibility!
Merci pour m’as fait rire!
🐟🐟🐟
You got me!! First one of the day, too.
Hi Kristi,
You got me good today! Bravo….I was so engrossed in this story and I was thinking “wow…I haven’t heard this story, what an interesting history”….I loved the photo of the boules players and it looks like the little boy on the left is really getting a kick out of it! Just like I did today…Thanks for the laugh!
Very good, Kristin. I fell for it!!!! You are very good with these April fool jokes. You can publish a little book of them.
What fun! You totally got me, too. Like so many others I’m getting to be oblivious to the actual date (and even day!). Thank you for the welcome laughter!
You got me again! I must pay attention to the date when I read your posts! Thanks for the smile!
You got me again!
You’d think I would have learned after the cleaning-skulls-in-the-catacombs-with-a-toothbrush post a few years ago. But no.
Great post, and very creative once again. Happy Possion d’Avril!
Mon Dieu! I totally forgot about April Fools Day. Here in NJ it’s been all Covid 19 all the time. Still, It’s late morning on Thursday and I didn’t suspect a thing until the very end. Thank you thank you for the well done story! Who cares if there are no poissons! Let those tuna grow until next year.
Restez sauf. Tout ira bien. Merci.
Thank you, Jennie!
Kudos to you, Kristi! You wrote about the plague, the customs of pétanque players and then blended your April Fools’ story right in … so much so that I was completely “taken in”. Thanks so much. Loved it.
Many, many years ago on April Fools’ Day, I told my rather stern father that his car had a flat tire. I thought he would go outside to look at the car, but instead he gathered all of his tools from the garage. I was getting a bit alarmed by this time. He didn’t say much, but didn’t seem annoyed. This little scene happen early one hot steamy morning in South Florida.
My best wishes for all … stay well and safe.
Kristin, you got me hook, line, and sinker. My husband and I had just said that COVID-19 is this year’s April Fool’s joke, but it’s not a laughing matter. Then I read your entry and got swallowed up in it because I love learning about French customs. Good writing!
Our dear Kristi,
You are awesome!!!
Poisson de Avril or not,your wonderfullly well written words are just EXACTLY what we all need right now.
And,once again(and as always) they have just wrapped us in hugs and smiles!
Merci mille fois,ma chere Kristi!!!
Love
Natalia. xo
PS Absolutely LOVED the latest chapter of The Lost Gardens!!! Totally captured my imagination!I just keep rereading it again and
again!!
YOU GOT ME! I sent this on to my friend in La Ciotat…I hope she likes your April fools blog as much as I did!!
Bum bump back atcha:)
Le poisson d’avril! You got me again! I think I fall for it every year! Your are so good at it, but I’ll try to be vigilant next year🤣🤣🤣