Among French traditions of the New Year/Réveillon, along with delicious dinners with oysters and champagne (here is a great post about French dîners de Réveillon), is the relatively new one of burning cars. This year, French interior minister Manuel Valls promised an exact accounting of the number of cars burned New Year's Eve. Yes, he expected a large number, and this morning it was announced: 1193!
Having once witnessed a car being set afire under my window, I feel the violence of this act. Burning a car is not just setting off fireworks, it's aggressive and dangerous and says something bad about the society where it becomes normal. Do you think it's better to announce the number, or to leave it quiet? And why do you think it's a French specialty?
From the author of the dîners de reveillon post, a thanks for the shout-out - and I hope your dîner was delicious and that you have a happy new year!
As for the burning of cars... it is an unfortunate tradition, and where it came from is a good question. I would assume it started as something people did during riots rather than as a celebratory thing...? But why did it become a celebratory thing? My own feeling about the numbers -- I assume Valls felt it was something people wanted to know, and perhaps they (the government / the people most shocked by it) are hoping an exact accounting will lead to greater crackdowns in the future? (Not that I'm sure a police crackdown would be the way to go, knowing the French - could just lead to riots.)
Posted by: maratinage | 02 January 2013 at 00:45
I heard that the stats have been published city by city before, so car burning became a competitive sport. Not sure what can be done about it though, because it must be hard to catch the perpetrators.
Posted by: Canedolia | 02 January 2013 at 20:01
In the case of the car burned under my window, we figured out later it must have been done for the insurance! The car was a jalopy from the provinces and the burners didn't touch any of the cars around it (although one burned from being too close). I wonder if people save up to burn cars till New Year's Eve?
Posted by: Sedulia | 03 January 2013 at 02:46