On this Mardi Gras day, in the Oise, “bands of curious people” arrive, hoping to get the best place. “We don't want to lose a movement of the players, nor one of the many twists and turns of the drama that will unfold, and on the other hand, we fear the blows and the jostling,” describes Father Martin Val in a work published in 1891. Above all, what we fear is receiving an unexpected kiss from the choule, or from its caresses, which break our nose and teeth. »
We are at the end of the 19th century in the small village of Boulogne-la-Grasse (Oise). That's it, the game is on, the game has just begun. “We push each other, we shout, we insult, one receives a kick in the chest, the other has his hand crushed, this one has a bloody face, a black eye, his nose flattened forever, this one targets an enemy and wounds him if he can, continues the man of the Church. Finally, it is a melee which has no name, but which must be seen to judge it. »
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