Les Bulles (

Gaumais Lorrain is a language (often referred to as patois) spoken by now a minority of people in Lorraine in France, small parts of Alsace and in Gaume in Belgium. It is a langue d'oïl. It is classified as a regional language of France and has the ...

: ''Les Bûles'') is a village of

Wallonia Wallonia (; french: Wallonie ), or ; nl, Wallonië ; wa, Waloneye or officially the Walloon Region (french: link=no, Région wallonne),; nl, link=no, Waals gewest; wa, link=no, Redjon walone is one of the three regions of Belgium—alo ...

and a district of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Chiny Chiny (; wa, Tchini) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. On 1 January 2018 the municipality, which covers , had 5,175 inhabitants, giving a population density of 46 inhabitants per km2. The m ...

, located in

Gaume Gaume () is a region in the extreme southeast of Belgium. At a lower altitude than the Ardennes, it borders the French region of Lorraine to the south (although some consider the bordering parts of Lorraine to be Gaume française), the Land of ...

in the

province of Luxembourg Luxembourg (french: Luxembourg ; nl, Luxemburg ; german: Luxemburg ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; wa, Lussimbork), also called Belgian Luxembourg, is the southernmost province of Wallonia and of Belgium. It borders on the country of Luxembourg to the ea ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. The village is located in the valley of the

Semois River The Semois (; ''Simwès'' in Walloon, often under elided form ''Smwès''; ''Semoy'', ''Sesbach'' in German, ''Setzbaach'' in Luxemburgish of Arlon; and known as the ''Semoy'' in France) is a river flowing from the Ardennes uplands of Belgium and ...

at the angle with its affluent the Vierre River. The people who live in the village are called "les Bulots" or "Les Bulaux". Starting in 1340, Les Bulles was an independent

seigniory In English law, seignory or seigniory, spelled ''signiory'' in Early Modern English (; french: seigneur, lit=lord; la, senior, lit=elder), is the lordship (authority) remaining to a grantor after the grant of an estate in fee simple. ''Nulle terre ...

. In 1673, The seigniory of Les Bulles has been annexed to the 'baronnie' of Jamoigne.

Origin of the name Les Bulles

The strange name Les Bulles might have two possible origins : * From the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

word 'burn' (brûler). The term "brûler" refers to the big fire done during the carnival period. * From the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

word 'bûr' ('burias' meaning residence). Other origins of the name have been proposed without any real historical background. The final known orthograph of the name Les Bulles is used since 1340 following the writings. The name likely comes from "bule" or "bure", which designates a large square or conical pile of branches, high enough to be burned. The name of Bules is seen in a Latin form, in a charter for the city of Orval in 1174. Later, in 1230 and 1271, Bures is also mentioned. Bures comes from the Latin meaning Burer burn. A bonfire celebration was also lit the annual day of bures, also called "day of the brandons." An odd feature of the name is that it does not contract after prepositions. One says "aux Etats Unis" or "des Etats Unis" but "à Les Bulles" "club de football de Les Bulles". Former municipalities of Luxembourg (Belgium) Chiny {{LuxembourgBE-geo-stub