Every morning, Nicolas Turon pays tribute to his department with a funny, tender and knowing text, in the form of a declaration of love to the Moselle. He chooses an emblem belonging to history or current events and treats it in an offbeat way.
Before summer disappears forever, swallowed by fog and sleet, let me turn on a string of bulbs and take you dancing with me one last time… to the popular ball.
The “Balpop”, for those in the know, is a celebration that is disappearing, and that is a shame. Because this celebration is, along with November 11, the patronal feast, and July 14, one of the refrains of village life, an equinox, a solstice for the community.
The place where everything is settled, with beer or punches. Slaving all week like donkeys, with little leisure, the workers found in the balpop the opportunity to settle the accounts. It was the place to let out the emotions accumulated during the year, the excess of love, anger, or resentment. Ball of jealousy, manly rites and fights between rival towns…
The thugs perched on their mopeds, watching the girls from afar, shooting Luck Strikes while waiting for the American quarter hour…
Today’s old people tell you nostalgic stories about the balpop of yesteryear. In Ars-sur-Moselle, it was the Amar boys who hosted the ball before the war… Two brothers, one who played the accordion, the other the drums. They made the party-goers dance on Saturday nights, until midnight sharp! At ten minutes to midnight they announced the last one, and nothing could make them change their minds, the time was the time! Later there were the Spountz and Louis Lemaire balls, in the canteen of the bolt factory. They removed the tables, set up a stage. Louis Lemaire was quite a number! A drummer who liked to fight. A slightly annoying guy bothered a mouse because it didn’t want to waltz with him? Louis would grab him and it would be settled outside…
Related News :