French Word of the Day: Casserolade

Why do I need to know casserolade?

A useful French word to know, especially as saucepans have become a familiar feature of protests in France.

What does it mean?

Une casserolade, roughly pronounced kah-suh-roh-lahd, is a noisy protest in which people bang pots and pans (casseroles) to make themselves heard.

It comes from the French word casserole (a saucepan or cooking pot), with the suffix -ade added at the end. This suffix is often used to form nouns describing an action, event or collective activity. Here, it turns the object being used, the saucepan, into the name of the protest itself.

The word is also related to the verb casseroler, meaning to make noise by banging pots and pans, particularly during a protest.

In France, casserolades became particularly prominent during the protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform in March and April 2023.

However, the practice is much older  – its roots are often traced back to the medieval tradition of charivari – a noisy public demonstration in which villagers banged pots, pans and other objects to shame someone whose behaviour they disapproved of.

It later became a political protest tactic. In the 1830s, under the July Monarchy of King Louis-Philippe, opponents of the regime used noisy gatherings outside the homes of politicians and public officials to denounce them. The practice has been used at various points in French political history.

During the 2017 presidential campaign, opponents disrupted French politician François Fillon’s rallies with casserolades. The demonstrations carried an added layer of wordplay – Fillon was said to have des casseroles au cul (literally “to have saucepans in the arse”), a French expression meaning to have a controversial past or scandals that could damage one’s reputation.

READ ALSO: French Expression of the Day: Avoir des casseroles (au cul) 

Use it like this

Les manifestants ont organisé une casserolade devant la mairie. – Protesters organised a noisy pot-and-pan protest outside the town hall.

Des habitants ont fait une casserolade sous les fenêtres du ministre. –  Residents banged pots and pans beneath the minister’s windows.

Examples in the French press

Casserolade, pique-nique et cortèges : à quoi s’attendre en Vendée pour la manifestation du 31 octobre ? (Ouest-France) – Banging of pots and pans, picnic and marches: what to expect in Vendée during the October 31st protest? 

La coordination des Gilets jaunes annule le rassemblement-casserolade du 30 octobre à Paris (Actu.fr) – The Yellow Vests coordination group cancels the pots and pans protest on October 30th in Paris.