TORONTO – A video of peaceful protests in Quebec has gone viral on social media.
The protesters, shown in black and white, are banging pots and pans in opposition to Bill 78, an emergency law adopted to limit the scope of student protests against tuition hikes.
Watch the video here:
The idea of banging pots and pans has spread like wildfire via social media. Attracting much attention was a Facebook event called “Our pots against the special legislation,” which had over 85,000 people invited.
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It’s been trending on Twitter with a Facebook fan page, a Twitter handle and hashtag, as well as a Google Docs page to download posters.
So where does this tradition of pot banging come from?
A cacerolazo is a form of popular protest where neighbourhoods create noise by banging pots, pans and other utensils.
It’s practised in Spanish-speaking countries and possibly started in Chile in the 1970s, with protests against the administration of Salvador Allende.
The word comes from Spanish cacerola, which means “stew pot.” With the addition of the suffix -azo, which means a punching or striking action, it creates a perfect metaphor for this type of demonstration.
In French, it’s called a tintamarre, which means “clangor” or “loud and often repeated noise.”
The word comes from the French Acadian dialect – Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in what is now Eastern Canada’s Maritime provinces (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island) and part of Quebec.
It may have begun with the tradition of people marching through the community to celebrate National Acadian Day, making noise with improvised instruments and noisemakers.
Some also link it to an ancient French folk custom of charivari, where neighbours noisily serenaded newlyweds at their new home by pounding on pots and pans.
With files from Global Montreal
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