La Sainte Barbe has been over 100 years, a strong moment for all those involved in fire professions, from the powder and mining.
Who is Sainte Barbe?
According to legend, his father, Dioscore decided to force her to marry. Following his refusal and his decision to devote himself to Christ, his father locked him in a tower with two windows. She had a third pierced, in order to honor the symbol of the Holy Trinity. On her return, her father set the tower on fire and she took the opportunity to run away and take refuge in a neighboring farm. She will be denounced by a shepherd then captured by her father.
Beard refused to renounce her faith and was condemned to the worst tortures. After refusing once again to renounce her faith, she was beheaded by her dad. The latter was instantly chastised by Heaven, struck by lightning and reduced to dust.
This is why she was nicknamed the Saint of fire.
A corporate tradition
The Sainte-Barbe has been for almost a century a moment of sharing, often celebrated with a parade, a meal, a speech or one ball. This is the opportunity to meet around gargantuan menus at the initiative of firefighters or the municipality. Today, they do not all celebrate Sainte-Barbe, but keep the convivial aspect by organizing a meal mainly financed by the sale of calendars. La Sainte Barbe is a privileged moment to reaffirm the cohesion of the group and to pay homage to the deceased.
This year Sainte-Barbe will be different because of the sanitary situation. She will not be mostly not celebrated and the calendars will be, for some sold by mail order and, for others, sent by letters or postponed when the situation is right. the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, posted a message on social media to make tribute to male and female firefighters and to all civil security personnel in order to testify to their “reconnaissance” and his “respect“.
“And by Sainte-Barbe, long live the sape.”