Eyes of fire: Saint-Barbe, RC Lens and reflections of miners' lamps

Words: Marc Hustin

Images: Quentin Aouidj

Saturday, the 7th of December and a veil of rain is covering Lens, a town in the north of France, deeply marked by its mining past.

One can feel her spirit at every corner of the industrial centre, taking care of every generation growing up in miners’ cottages.

Saint Barbara, (our) mother, protector and leader of the miners.

According to the legend, she is the martyr of her father Discore who blamed her for her faith in the Catholic Church, she was tortured up the summit of a mountain and beheaded.

Discore was struck by lightning as heavenly punishment. Thus, Saint-Barbe (Saint Barbara) became the patron saint of people that work with explosives.

©Quentin Aouidj/ Terrace Edition. Procession of Saint-Barbe. Lens

After the first and second world wars, waves of Polish, Italian and Magrebian migrants came to fill shortages in the Lens labour force. They worked in the dreary depths of the earth.

Families cherished Saint Barbara figurines due to the fear in the belly that one of them wouldn’t make it back from the pit.

Today, Barbara cries her rain drops over the steaming coal hills. The mines had closed by the 1990’s.

To remember Saint Barbara and her miners, people gathered to climb up the summit of the coal hills known as “terrils”.

With coats on the shoulders and caps on heads, people carry her statue along the coal miner’s path. Through damp air and freezing wind, walkers struggle humbly on ancestor’s foot prints, feeling the miners’ soul.

Head lamps on miners’ helmets light the way as the city glows in the background. The light is in contrast to the dark veins of the coal pit.

After honouring the miners on the terrils, the town gets getting ready for the following day and its sacred ritual of football, where goals are as valuable as black gold.

On match-day, supporters meet up in the bars around the stadium, proudly showing their red and yellow shirts.

An old man is telling stories about relatives in the labyrinth of the mine, while another makes jokes with the local ch’ti accent that Danny Boon would be impressed with.

Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis indeed.

©Quentin Aouidj/ Terrace Edition. RC Lens vs Montpellier HSC.

The tempting smell of hot chips fills the air around the Bollaert stadium. The oil crackles as the golden fries sizzle, while a wide array of colourful sauces are generously spread on the bread.

Fans line up at the food trucks to grab the famous "américain fricadelle"—a hearty sandwich made of two slices of bread, a local sausage, and a heap of crisp French fries.

Others wait silently for the kick-off in their cars, adorned with RC Lens pennants.

Then, fans wander nonchalantly to the stadium, wearing the weight of hard labour on their back, in the shadow of their grandfathers who trooped to the mines.

Lens, “Le Sang et or”, the blood and the gold team lies seventh in Ligue 1.

They have to perform to keep dreaming of a third European qualification in a row, after 12 years in Ligue 2.

Striker Florian Sotoca leads the way, reaching his 200th game.

Lens touched the stars two years ago finishing second and securing a ticket for the Champions League.

Last year, they defeated Arsenal 2-1 and the coal hills turned to volcanoes, covering the whole town in football magma.

Today, two big tifos roll down the tribunes, like the opening of a curtain in the theatre, drawing on the feelings of pride and melancholia in the fans towards a performance that will hopefully bring strong reviews.

Red and yellow smoke bombs are lit on the Tribune Marek, the home “end” of RC Lens. The club’s colours are linked to the Spanish occupation of the 30 Years War.

Black smoke billows over the grass, representative of the dust on miners’ skin and the black and green original colours of the club.

For today’s match vs Montpellier Hérault SC the red and gold becomes black and gold with the team sporting a special edition shirt by Puma carrying crests of miners’ lamps and axes and the image of Saint-Barbe

It took time to prize coal from the earth and the RC lens faithful had to be patient for the opening goal.

They were rewarded with the opening strike from Labeau Lascary, a product from the famed Lens academy “la gaillette”.

“In the north, in the miners’ cottages, the earth was coal, the sky the horizon, people were miners of the deep mines”

Rings out a stirring standard “Les Corons” by Pierre Bachelet and it covers the whole stadium.

There is a certain sadness to the song and the sorrow spreads to Montpellier who have two chances to score but can’t hit the net.

Lens had a goal chalked off for offside and also hit the bar but made the score two-nil in the dying minutes thanks to a comedy own-goal from the visitors.

The people of Lens know how to have a laugh and were dancing in the stand after a goal that slapstick actor Boon would be proud of, with the ball bouncing off a defender from a cross before going through the legs of the Montpellier keeper.

In the evening, people gather around Liévin’s Church of Saint Amé, where a large oil lamp flickers in front.

Descendants of miners cheer around crackling wooden fires, some entering the church, asking about the match score, nodding and making the sign of the cross.

The procession, led by men in miners’ overalls, climbs up the steps to bring Saint-Barbe’s statue to the church.

She is the essence of conviction, the allegory of resilience. Silence surrounds her as if she might emerge alive.

To round off the festivities, a concert fills the night with music and a firework bursts in the dark sky.

Saint Barbara can finally return to heaven, carried on trails of stardust and the light in the eyes of Les Lensois.