Alcohol, weather, suicide… These clichés that stick to the skin of Bretons and Brittany

The Bretons may well be the friendliest people on Earth (we’re hardly exaggerating), but they still carry around a lot of more or less brilliant clichés. According to legend, they are all alcoholics, rednecks, chauvinists or stubborn. Praised for the beauty of its landscapes, their region also regularly takes for its rank. In addition to rotten weather, Brittany would thus be the region most affected by suicide and a land only populated by fishermen and peasants speaking a patois.

So many clichés with which the Bretons have learned to have fun over time, even claiming some with pride. Born in Nantes, Breton journalist Maiwenn Raynaudon-Kerzerho still wanted to dot the “i” by scanning in a book, released at the end of the year “all these ideas received from another time and which no longer correspond to anything. » Deputy Editor-in-Chief from the magazine Bretonsshe dismantles for 20 minutes certain clichés still alive.

Brittany is not the region where we drink the most

As the saying goes: “In Brittany, we don’t have mountains but we have a good descent. When it comes to alcohol, the Bretons are indeed known not to put aside. A fondness for the drink that is not new. “There has always been a tradition of festive alcohol in Brittany where drunkenness is not taboo, underlines Maiwenn Raynaudon-Kerzerho. In the pardons in the 18th century, people were already putting their heads upside down. This pronounced taste for biture does not mean that Bretons are alcoholics. The latter are also not the biggest drinkers in France. At least not on a daily basis. According to a study by Public Health France, 10.7% of Bretons drink alcohol every day, a figure slightly higher than the national average but lower than other regions such as Occitanie or Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

When the weekend comes, however, the Bretons like to let go. According to the same data from Public Health France, they are the “champions” for heavy occasional alcoholization (six or more glasses). In short, Brittany is therefore not the region where people drink most frequently in France. But when they do, the Bretons don’t do things by halves.

The suicide rate would not be higher there than elsewhere

The subject is sensitive. With a suicide rate of 21.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, Brittany would have the highest rate in France. Figures that the journalist prefers to take with a grain of salt. “There are too many disparities between the regions in the data that is reported in the death certificates, she underlines. The comparison between territories therefore makes no sense. To explain this scourge, some have tried to make the link with the gloomy weather, alcohol or the highest proportion of farmers.

However, many clues go against this presumed feeling of ill-being in the region. They even tend to prove that Brittany is a rather good place to live. Maiwenn Raynaudon-Kerzerho mentions in particular “the unemployment rate, which is the lowest in France, or the income inequalities which are less than elsewhere”. “We can also mention the social and cultural life which is very rich there with a record number of festivals, the associative fabric which is very strong there or the fact that the Bretons are those who give the most blood, she continues. All this gives the image of a simple, peaceful and generous region, which goes rather against the figures on the suicide rate, the veracity of which raises questions. »

No, it does not rain every day in Brittany

Sometimes capricious, the Breton weather has long been the object of mockery. But in the age of global warming, these jokes no longer make many people laugh. While the heat waves are increasing, Brittany is even seen as an Eldorado and could eventually become a refuge for climate refugees. “It has already started, assures Maiwenn Raynaudon-Kerzerho. People are already coming to settle in Brittany because it is less hot. »

If we take a closer look at the meteorological data, we also see that Brittany is not the region where it rains the most. “We tend to forget that Brittany is a multitude of climates, underlines the journalist. That of Brest has nothing to do with that of Vannes for example. » With 156 days of rain per year, Brest wins the prize for the wettest city in France. Conversely, Rennes registers only 116 days of rain per year on average, which is a little more than Toulouse (100 days of rain) and less than in Bordeaux (128 days) and Biarritz (144 days) .

In quantity, it also rains less water in Rennes (676 millimeters) or Saint-Brieuc (738) than in Nice (803). “So it doesn’t rain all the time in Brittany, but it shouldn’t be said too loudly either,” smiles the journalist.

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