A Stacada d’Breï

Every four years, on the third Sunday of July, this ancient folk festival brings together the population and tourists along the streets and squares of the town.


Typology Intellectual

Period Nineteenth

Accessibility Yes

Visitable Yes

A Stacada costume celebration has been held in Breil since at least the end of the 19th century. It was then a popular event organized each year on the last day of the carnival week. At that time, a group of informal organizers asked the mayor the right to organize it every year.

The Stacada is about a popular uprising against the abuses of the powerful. Its course has evolved over time until adopting a scenario which is now framed around different themes describing this revolt: Droit de cuissage (Droit du Seigneur), e the bailiff’s excesses (local governor / Bayle in Breillois) and notables representing the power, the popular uprising, the rendered justice, the reconciliation…

In 1960, it was decided that the Stacada would be held in summer to better bring together the Breillois who had migrated to the city to work there, which also enabled to welcome tourists.

The Stacada’s characters are:

  • The swordsman: he leads the revolt by swirling a sword, followed by the camp follower, drum-major, the furnace, dragoons and militia, as well as other actors in costumes, and the population;
  • The fifes, playing the Stacada tunes, accompanying the rebels;
  • The bride, threatened by the right-hand beating (Droit du Seigneur) of the bayle;
  • The “bayle” and notables of the village, arrogant and disputed by the population;
  • The lord, accompanied by Turks, a postilion, a jester (battistra) and a troubadour (the couret), all on horseback. The lord discovers the situation and supports the request for justice of his subjects;
  • The flag bearer (4 m high), which symbolizes the popular strength (2 or 3 porters take turns because of its weight);
  • Judges responsible for upholding justice;
  • The loggers in charge of breaking the “barricades” erected by the partisans of the notables;
  • The harlequin who slams his whip to spread the crowd and open the way for the protagonists, the cooks, the drum-major, the apothecary, as well as many extras and other traditional figures;
  • The “badesses”, ladies who accompany the party, which make the visitors dance in the afternoon, and proceed in the morning to the delivery of cockades against a free participation in the organization expenses

Actors express themselves in Breillois (translated into French by a riding instructor with a microphone and amplifier)

Conditions of visit

In the morning, the protagonists and spectators go through the streets and squares of the town.
In the afternoon, traditional dances take place in the lake tent.
Free access.

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Additional information

Bibliography

  • Botton Charles, Histoire de Breil et des Breillois, Les Editions du Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, 1996.
  • Collectif, A Stacada d’Breil, Numéro spécial, Magazine Le Haut-Pays n°7, les Editions du Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, 1986.
  • Botton Charles, A Stacada d’Breil, Magazine Le Haut-Pays n°41, les Editions du Cabri, Breil-sur-Roya, 1998.