French newspaper takes long view of news, coming out every 29 February

French administration has not always made it easy for those born on 29 February, but one entity has embraced – and lives for – the date: the Bougie du sapeur, a bissextile publication that takes a long view of the news, every four years.

Cover of the 2024 edition of the Bougie du sapeur satirical newspaper published in France every four years on 29 February. © La bougie du sapeur

“For four years we read newspapers, we listen to the radio and watch television, and we take notes, and put ideas in a box and say perhaps this will be a good subject for the next Bougie du sapeur,” explains Jean d'Indy, the paper's editor and self-described Jack-of-all-trades.

He took over the publication in 1996, the fourth edition of the satirical paper that was started by two friends in 1980.

It continues today as a labour of love every leap year for about a dozen writers headed by d’Indy, who spends most of his time promoting his first love, horse racing.

@Steve_Tiger1
Bonjour Steve,
🇫🇷 29 février = année bissextile
- Jean d'Indy, rédacteur en chef de la Bougie du sapeur, propose de décerner le prix No Sport à celui qui sera éliminé le premier aux jeux olympiques à Paris. 😊🤣
- Petit journal humoristique du 29 février.
François pic.twitter.com/YOZ7bAhTrI

— François Rosicki (@francois94160) February 28, 2024

But for six months every four years, he focuses on the paper, deciding what goes in and commissioning articles, which, above all, must be funny.

Humour, satire

“We have we have one point of view, a point of view of humour,” he told RFI. “All of us, we just want to laugh when we write our articles, and if we don’t take any pleasure to write, we think it won't be a good article for the public."

Humour, he says, allows the paper to address “any subject”. If a topic is too touchy, it can go in the next edition, four years later.

There is nothing in the 2024 edition, for example, about the war in Gaza; nor is there anything specifically about the Covid pandemic, which did occur four years ago, but is hard to laugh about.

“We forget the Covid, that’s the past, it's not funny," says d’Indy.

On the cover of the 2024 edition are two stories, one about artificial intelligence, which will soon make everyone smart, but not funny, and another about “what men must know before becoming women”.

Decrying heavy breasts and annoying hair, the author also writes about the higher cost of services for women (the so-called "pink tax”, which another article elaborates on) and the contradictory expectations of heterosexual men, who are looking for women who are “soft, but strong”, "sexy but not vulgar”, "nice but not a victim".

No laughing matter

La Bougie du sapeur, which means ‘The soldier’s candle’, is named after Sapeur Camember, a character from one of the first French comic strips from the late 19th century, who was born on 29 February 1844.

A simple man, Sapeur Camember finds himself conscripted into the army after only five birthdays.

And while the ‘youth' of those born on 29 February can be something to laugh about, it can cause problems in pull-down menus on online tax forms and other administrative settings.

Until 2013, it was not clear when those born in France on 29 February turned 18 - a birthday that does not fall on a leap year.

A ministerial decree about voter registration clarified that when someone is born on 29 February, “it would be right to accept that they will become an adult the last day of February of the year of their 18th birthday that can be a 28th of February”.

It is one of the few official references in France to those born on 29 February – a situation that in the past might have lead some parents to declare their child's birth either the day before, on 28 February, or the day after, 1 March, to avoid administrative hassles.

Today, as births are more closely monitored and recorded, statistics show that births in France on 29 February are within the average of any other day of the year.

But it remains an "exceptional" day for Jean d’Indy, who is committed to the Bougie du sapeur remaining a paper-only publication, distributing 200,000 copies to newsstands in France, Belgium and Luxembourg to try to keep alive what he says is a dying industry.

“We choose this day, the 29th of February, because it is the only day that is exceptional,” he says. “And we think that our newspaper is exceptional."

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More about 29 February in France in the Spotlight on France podcast, episode 107, out Thursday 29 February, 2024.