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FRANCE EXPLAINED

The French newspaper that only appears once every four years

Today is a very special day for French media - a newspaper will appear in the news kiosks which has not been seen since 2020.

Published: 26 February 2024 10:56 CET
Updated: 29 February 2024 13:56 CET

The French newspaper that only appears once every four years

The French satirical newspaper La Bougie du Sapeur appearing in 2008. Photo by Patrick HERTZOG / AFP

La Bougie du Sapeur (the soldier’s candle) is a satirical newspaper that has a very unusual quirk – it is only produced once every four years.

The paper is published on February 29th, which means that it only appears on a leap year (anneé bissextile in French).

As 2024 is a leap year, the paper will appear in news kiosks on Thursday for the first time since 2020.

Keen crossword fans might be the first to snap it up – the paper publishes a crossword and then publishes the results in the next issue; meaning that you have to wait four years to find out the answer to that cryptic clue.

Launched in 1980, the paper describes itself as drôle mais pas méchant (funny but not nasty) and is largely devoted to satirical news articles and musings upon the quirks of everyday life in France.

For example, the 2012 front page concerned itself with why requesting a demi (half) of beer in fact gets you a quarter of a litre, not a half.

“It’s a veritable scandal,” ran the editorial comment. “When you ask for a demi in your local, you get a quarter. It’s organised theft. We are starting a crusade to return the demi to being: a demi!”

The paper – which proudly holds the title of the world’s least frequently-produced newspaper – was set up by Jacques Debuisson and Christian Bailly, as a joke between friends.

The name La Bougie du Sapeur refers to Camember, a sapper [soldier] in a comic book created by Georges Colomb in 1896. In the story, Camember was born on February 29th and joined the army when he had celebrated his birthday only four times.

The paper retails for €4.80 although you can also get a 100-year subscription for €100. Profits are donated to charity.

Member comments

Anonymous - 26 February 2024 at 18:54 CET

“drôle mais pas méchant” would be better translated as “funny but not nasty” rather than “funny but not naughty”

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Why are berets so synonymous with France?

If you were to believe the TV shows and movies about France’s capital, everyone in the city owns a beret, drives a moped, smokes cigarettes, and carries baguettes under their armpits.

While some of these stereotypes might be more true than others (hint: baguette transportation), the anglophone world has been convinced that berets never go out of style.

READ MORE: Baguettiquette: Weird things the French do with bread

These days, a person walking around Paris in a beret is just as likely – if not more likely – to be a tourist than a French person.

That being said, the English-speaking world does have good reason to associate berets with the French.

The word beret is thought to be of Gallic (pre-French) origins, dating all the way back to the Romans, though similar styles of headgear have been found in archeological sites across the ancient world.

Officially, beret begins to appear in the French dictionary around the 15th century, and by the 19th century the waterproof headgear had become popular.

Napoleon associated them with the Basque country and the Pyrenees, though different versions of berets were worn across the French countryside, including the people who would go on to be known as ‘onion johnnies’ in Brittany.

French Onion Johnnies

Brits have a specific reason to associate the French with berets, according to writer Margo Lestz with the Curious Rambler blog.

From the mid-1800s to mid-1900s, it was common for Brits to see French men in berets, riding bicycles and carrying onions.

“These beret-wearing, onion-laden cyclists arrived in the UK every summer to peddle their wares. They came from the area around Roscoff, Brittany in western France. This area was (and still is) known for its special pink onions. They were sweet, had a long storage life – and the British loved them.

“As it happened, many of these onion-sellers were called Yann, a common Breton name which is the equivalent of Jean in French and John in English. The British soon took to calling them “Onion Johnnies”. The Johnnies didn’t mind and happily adopted their new English nickname.

“They would go door to door from July through December across the UK, then would return to Brittany. Since the Onion Johnnies were the only contact that many Brits had with a Frenchman, they naturally assumed that all Frenchmen wore berets,” Lestz wrote.

READ MORE: Why we think the French all wear berets and carry onions

Military gear to street fashion and revolutions

Another reason we associate the French with berets has to do with official military uniforms. Beginning in the 1880s and continuing into World War I, France’s Chasseurs Alpins, infantry soldiers the Alps, began to wear berets as part of their uniform.

Aloïs Guinut, the author of the book ‘Dress like a Parisian’ told 20 Minutes that “Shepherds wore them first, then soldiers, schoolchildren, and then golfers, mountaineers, and even cyclists adopted it.”

Guinut said that once the headwear became popular with athletes, it started to became stylish in general.

“Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel was one of the first to use it as a fashion accessory in the 1930s,” Guinot explained, noting that around that time French cinema was growing in popularity, and more French actresses were sporting berets, including the leading lady Michele Morgan in the film ‘Le Quai des Brumes’.

READ MORE: Where does the ‘romantic, sexy French’ stereotype come from?

By the 1940s, berets were so connected to French identity that they became an essential accessory for the resistance during World War II.

Afterwards, other resistance movements began to incorporate berets too, including the revolutionary Che Guevara.

What about now?

Several military uniforms across the world include berets, including parts of the French military like paratroopers and the French foreign legion.

As for Parisians, “there are [some] who do wear berets. I see them regularly. But it’s true that tourists love wearing berets when they visit Paris, so it is a bit of a tourist accessory,” Guinut said.

It continues to be part of the ‘Parisienne’ appearance as luxury fashion companies use it in their yearly collections – like Dior in 2017.

Meanwhile, tourist shops play up the beret, while pop culture continues to give us images of the beret-wearing Frenchwoman – most recently, Emily in Paris, with the main character frequently accesorising with a bright red beret.

Let us know what you think about berets in the comments below. Do you consider them stylish?

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