Last modified: 2003-05-31 by ivan sache
Keywords: jura | arbois | pelican |
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by Pascal Vagnat
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Arbois is a city of ca. 4,000 inhabitants located in the department of Jura, region and traditional province of Franche-Comté. As the capital of the Jura wine-producing area, Arbois is the host of the Biou festival (fête du Biou), every first Sunday of September, the day of St. Just, patron of the city. The biou is made of alternating horizontal layers of bunches of white (yellow) and red (purple) grapes fastened to a metallic heart-shaped frame. The top of the biou is ornated with flowers and a small French Tricolore flag flanked by two Arbois flags. The biou can be heavier than 100 kg, depending of the year (the bunches are given by the wine-growers of the area). The biou is carried by four wine-growers through the city streets into the church, where it is blessed and hung for one to three weeks.
Source: J. Aoun. Fêtes et folklores de France. France-Loisirs,1999 (with a colour picture of the biou)
Arbois is the birth city of Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), the famous microbiologist and physician (who was in fact born in Dole but spent most of his life in Arbois). Pasteur is said to have joined every year the Biou festival. He owned himself a vineyard and did several experiments about alcoholic fermentation and improvement of wine and beer production. Pasteur's vineyard wine is still produced and sold every year at astronomical price.
Ivan Sache, 21 November 1999
The colours