Bœuf Gras
An English cartoon from 1660 depicts Mardi Gras mounted on a Fat Ox and ready to do battle with Lent.
[4] In Montreal, on Friday, March 23, 1900, the day after Mi-Carême Thursday, a Bœuf Gras parade was organized for the first time.
It took place in the evening on the ice of a skating rink, protected by walls from the aggressive winter cold, and was open to spectators for an entrance fee.
The parade features floats representing, among others, the city of Montreal, England, France, the United States, and Ireland, with young girls in national costume escorted by halberdiers.
[11] Butchers, who used to walk fat oxen around town, once played a key role in the organization of the Chalon-sur-Saône Carnival.
On February 27, 1858, in his article entitled Les Bœufs gras, published in L'Univers illustré, Mr. Vauvert wrote about the Bœuf gras procession at Chapelle Saint-Denis: Paris was not alone in enjoying the privilege of these ceremonial rides; several neighboring towns had their boeuf phénomène, complete with triumphal float and traditional Indian procession.
The solemnity at La Chapelle-Saint-Denis was remarkable not so much for the pomp and circumstance displayed by its organizer, Mr. Baudeau, as for the presence of a hundred-and-seven-year-old man, the venerable Mr. Armand Gérard.
[14] On May 27, 1906, a Bœuf Gras (Fat Ox) float took part in the Fête des Fleurs (Flower Festival).
After being presented to the officers of the seneschals, the most beautiful steer recognized by the jurors is "viellé", i.e. taken around the town's cantons and crossroads to the sound of popular music, and its lucky owner is granted a monopoly on Lenten butchery.In Clermont-Ferrand, fat oxen were driven around at Easter until around 1960.
A Bœuf Gras (fat ox) was paraded, as André Dreux reports in Créteil, mon village!
It was the "bœuf gras" (fat ox), which rarely walked on its legs along the streets of Créteil, but was hoisted onto a float, decked out and beautifully wrapped, surrounded by horsemen and people in fancy dress.
After Mardi Gras, Carnival continued with Mi-Carême; more masquerade costumes, and merry confetti battles.
Around 1920, we regularly saw masked balls organized by local societies.A video of the Bœuf Gras competition held in Dax in February 1963 is available on the Internet.
It shows some similarities with the one in Paris:On Sunday November 28, Dijon's butchers, having been awarded the bounty of the fatted ox at the opening of the Seurre fairs, marched it through the town with great pomp; they rode on horseback, sword in hand, and had the Prince's music.
[16]A postcard shows a float carrying a Bœuf Gras and three costumed people: a toreador and two picadors.
Jargeau's carnival, now the largest in the Centre-Val de Loire region, is said to have originated with the Bœuf Gras (Fat Ox) village walk in the 1880s.
A postcard from around 1900 shows the Bœuf Gras float on parade at "La Cavalcade du 9 Avril" in Montargis.
A huge animal, covered in a scarlet cloak, its horns adorned with flowers and ribbons, carrying on its back a pretty six-year-old child dressed as a lover, with a bow in his hand and a quiver on his back, was followed by more than fifty butcher boys, neatly dressed in white jackets, bonnets and aprons, partly on horseback and partly on foot; The procession traveled a good portion of the city, bursting with noisy joy, and stopped in front of the homes of Orléans' principal inhabitants, as well as at the doors of the best practices, whose generosity was used to make a splendid gala that rounded off the festivities.
Louis-François-Marie Bellin de La Liborlière wrote in 1846 about life in Poitiers before 1789:As the law of quadragesimal abstinence was generally observed, each year a Lenten butcher was appointed, with sole responsibility for the public sale of meat during the period when this type of food became an exception.
[35] A photo of the Bœuf Gras parade held in Rochefort on Mi-Carême Thursday, March 28, 1935, can be viewed on the Internet.
La Revue comique wrote about the Versailles parade:[41]And this is how the Californian, the fat ox of 1849, stripped of his Parisian royalty, found himself reduced to strolling his exiled majesty through the deserted streets of pompous Versailles, under the disdainful eyes of the local dowagers!
Preparations in Versailles are already in full swing, and the fattened ox that will be triumphantly paraded through the streets will also be the main prize in a tombola for the benefit of the poor.
An Internet page devoted to the history of Le Vésinet[43] states: Before 1900, the Bœuf-Gras parade took place before the Marguerite festival.
A huge ox, decorated with flowers and tricolored ribbons, was led through the streets of Le Vésinet by a brass band.
