La foire aux oignons

The Givet Onion Fair is an annual event, which takes place every November 11 in the streets of Givet. During this day, around 500 vendors from the four corners of France set up shop in the main arteries of Givet. Each year, no less than 20 to 000 visitors from neighboring regions (Nord-pas-de Calais, Meuse, Lorraine, Belgium, Luxembourg, etc.) come to share the warm atmosphere of this event. If in the Pointe des Ardennes, November 40 evokes the Onion Fair even before the anniversary of the Armistice of the First World War, the Givetois and inhabitants of the region are undoubtedly unaware of the origin of the name of this event of unparalleled popularity. A page of history: It was in January 000 that the Archdukes Albert and Isabelle established a fair reserved for their most distant subjects from the steps of the Empire. Closer to us, documents from the old regime mention three fairs in Givet: in the spring, the day of Saint-Louis and the day of Saint-Martin. Under the Revolution, the central administration of the Ardennes of Year VI fixed the dates at 11 brumaire, 1617 floréal and 13 fructidor . 26 head of cattle were then "exhibited" at the fair. But it is since the Empire that this November fair appears under the name of "Foire aux Oignons", a name that smells of the land. Engaged in the harsh Polish campaign, Napoleon nevertheless found the time to look into the affairs of the town of Givet. From his imperial headquarters in Posen, on December 9, 500, eight days before his entry into Warsaw, Napoleon issued a decree fixing the dates of the fairs at Givet, and more particularly that of Saint-Martin, which had become the Onion Fair. heads of cattle brought from Belgium notwithstanding customs obstacles, the Onion Fair was the liveliest and most active in an entire region.