Wikipedia
Empègues are small images stencilled on doorways in southern France. The empègue symbolises that the household has contributed to groups of youths gathering funds for celebrations each August.
The drawings are made by the youths of a village and are said to date from the early part of the twentieth century when the local male youths would be conscripted into the military. Conscription is no longer practised in France but the tradition continues. The images are of traditional subjects which symbolise the local area. In the Petite Camargue the images frequently involve horses, flamingoes and of course bulls, because of the local version of bullfighting ( Course camarguaise). In the version of bullfighting licensed in France the bull is merely decorated with prizes which youths attempt to steal from the long-horned bull. The bull gets to fight another day.