The Badoche
Every year, the patron saint is celebrated in the communes and villages of Valdigne with a special event, the Badoche, whose origins seem to go back to the propitiatory rites celebrated by the Celts.
Tradition has it that the Badoche originated in La Salle, and then spread to other villages.
The protagonists of the festival are the young bachelors who organise a collective dance in the village square. A few days beforehand, the young men of Badoche get together and appoint the Chief Badocher, who together with his partner, the Badochère, will direct the festival.
On the eve of the feast, the couple, dressed in traditional clothes, lead a small procession from house to house, accompanied by accordion players, to announce the event and collect donations to help pay for the feast. The sign of the Badocher is the so-called ‘halberd‘, a three-pronged stick crowned with flowers and decorated with multi-coloured silk ribbons, while for the begging, a plate is presented, also decorated with flowers and ribbons, filled with sweets and cigarettes to be offered in exchange for the offering.
Eight pine trees, felled a few days earlier by the Badochers, are erected in the square where the ball is to take place.
On the day of the patron saint’s day, the merry band of the Badoche and the musicians enter the square after the Mass: the dances are opened by the Chief Badocher and his partner, who then invite the other Badochers, the authorities, young couples from neighbouring villages, conscripts and all categories of people and workers, according to a custom handed down by oral tradition.
The grand ball resumes in the afternoon, accompanied by generous pours of wine, and ends late in the evening.
The folk group “Les Sallereins” brings together in its repertoire the traditional dances of the Badoche of La Salle.
The Badoche is a tradition that is also celebrated in Morgex on Assumption Day (15 August), in La Thuile on the transfer of the relics of Saint Nicholas (9 May), in Pré-Saint-Didier on Saint Lawrence (10 August) and in some hamlets of these Valdigne villages.