Tuesday, December 24, it is not from the sky but from the Philippe-Le-Bon tower, in Dijon, that Santa Claus will descend. Followed by the tracking spotlight, the Bearded Old Man will, like every year, be the star of hundreds of children – even thousands! – came in large numbers to witness this apparition. Meet at 6:15 p.m., in front of the gates of the town hall.
The same firefighter has been donning the costume since 2001
As tradition dictates in the city of dukes, it is a professional firefighter who will slip into the red costume. It is also the same firefighter who has taken on this role almost every time for more than twenty years. “I did it on two occasions, but he really has to be dying to leave his place,” laughs Jean-Christophe Devaux, Rescue in perilous and mountain environments (SMPM, previously called Grimp) team member.
“Before, we came to get Santa Claus with the big ladder”
We met this stunt Santa on Wednesday December 18, while he was carrying out a “test” descent before the big day. “I have been there every year since 2001, for the children. They have stars in their eyes, it’s magical,” says Thierry Vadot, former Grimp firefighter, now an officer in the prevention department.
And to say: “Previously, Santa Claus waited on a window of the town hall for people to come and get him with the large ladder. But when François Rebsamen (who became mayor of Dijon, editor’s note) chased the cars away from Place de la Libération and set up the Christmas village there, we could no longer pass by with the truck. We had to come up with another solution.”
A zip line of more than 60 meters
Although the people of Dijon have had the habit, since 1951, of coming to admire the old man with the white beard at the Dukes’ Palace on Christmas Eve*, it is therefore only since the beginning of the 21ste century that he launched himself on a zip line of around sixty meters before landing in the courtyard of the town hall.
The specialized SMPM teams are seasoned in the most extreme situations and, over time, the operation has been well established. But that doesn’t stop them from taking the exercise seriously. “We want to be sure that everything goes well on December 24,” indicates Gérard Jallat, lieutenant at the Fontaine-lès-Dijon rescue center and departmental referent for the Rescue section in perilous and mountain environments. Which specifies that there will be five of them that evening to ensure the descent of Santa Claus from the wooden platform installed some 48 meters high.
*The tradition dates back to this time, when a priest burned a mannequin representing Santa Claus in the square in front of Saint-Bénigne Cathedral to protest against this pagan cult. The next day, New Year’s Eve, Canon Kir resurrected this symbol by having a man with a white beard and the famous red costume walk on the roof of the town hall.
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