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What is your village festival like?


NormanH
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Down South the culture is like this:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaf60v_jt-des-fetes-votives-saint-chaptes_news

most places are very similar pick any from here:

http://www.dailymotion.com/related/xaf60v/1?videoid=17503807&relatedtype=related&related_algo=meta2-only

The larger towns Nîmes Béziers  have Ferias which are just as mindless but the music is louder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUMI5uADQpE&feature=related

and the bulls are killed. (I didn't post that video)

I don't really feel 'integrated' .

How are things your way?

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We get strawberries in May and pumpins in October... and then bread and horses and bands somewhere in between... and then truffles before christmas.  I think it's the same fete just different products... and always the same cheese man who has the most expensive cheese ever!

http://www.frenchholidaytower.com/festivals.html

I'm already looking forward to the pumpkin fete [:D]

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Apart from the bestioles, ours looked pretty much the same. People hanging around, the village drunks at the 'bar' all day, the odd fight, but fortunately not often.

 The 14 Juillet there would be  competitions which included young men with their hands tied behinds their backs trying to eat uncooked saussise a cuire that were dangling from quite a height. My friends son often won, and then she would tell me she didn't know where he had picked 'worms' up from.

The andouillette do, was one I avoided, just the smell would have me degueuling.

All of a muchness, and people from our village and from the ones aux alentours would go down and mingle.

I liked it when La Vogue used to come to the village, the one that came to our village always had wonderful gaufres. I once went on one of the big rides and didn't like it. It stopped and I went to get off as I was near the ground and my friend squealed not to as it was going to start again and would go backwards, I was off there at a speed that even surprised me and was watching . NO WAY could I have done that awful ride 'backwards'.

 

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I have just looked at Norman's links. [:'(] It makes me want to move to Britanny.[:(] Give me the Festival Interceltique de Lorient any day!

Do you think that this is what Northern Europeans see, when they say they want to come to France for the laid back lifestyle, to live like the French? There may be sunshine, there may be wine, but as for the culture....

But it's not ALL like this. Here, not a million miles away from Norman, we have once a year, "Cuisines dans la Rue" - where for 15 euros, you can sample dishes cooked by various local chefs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQD0YafVkgI and some tourists even video the event!

We also have the rugby club which cooks a "boeuf à la broche", followed by a bal. And the omelette géante too.

And various concerts. Organ concerts in the local church, reggae night, salsa night, accordion concert, argentinian tango, karaoke, various times when you can get the usual moules-frites, and once a year, a repas de quartier after hearing the mayor's speech (usually, a self-eulogy, showing how much he is doing for the town, which can then justify the astronomical taxes foncières we pay here)

And a few weeks ago, we had in the next village, a "festival country!" with live band, and line dancers who came from miles and miles, doing their thing in the dusty field.

But this weekend, what we have is "Festival Irlandais"!!!!!!!  this afternoon, an atelier de danse irlandaise, then an apéro with a live performance by a local expat blues musician, then a repas irlandais (no idea what this will be). I think they may sell Guiness.[:)]

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Ours is today, marché nocturne and fireworks tonight then brocante tomomorrow. We are going tonight and taking our new (ish) Fr. neighbours. OH is out there putting up tables etc in the square and tomorrow we'll try and sell our cast-offs at the brocante..........................................happy days, good fun.....................oh yes, definitely integrated even though we're part timers![Www]

Rain and thunder in the air[:(]

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Well it's true that we have concerts:

Carmina Burana .........Cancelled

Verdi's Requiem .........Cancelled

Truro Cathedral Choir.... about 50 people there, including say 40 English people with holiday homes.

If it's food it might work OK

If it's cheap drink it will..'le vingt de Vin' is  so successful that the town has had to bring in special traffic regulations [:-))]

http://beziers-coeurdeville.fr/content/le-20-cest-le-vin-plan-de-circulation

I wonder if anybody is ever breath tested?

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The sucessful formula replicated in all the villages around here is a soirée patate et pinard [:(]

The next day the menfolk are not seen but the women sent out to re- approvision them are often sporting souvenir black eyes.

Any attempts by good intentioned but ill advised comité de fêtes to raise the cultural bar above this lowest common denominator are boycotted.

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We were at two fetes votives this summer; Dions, which was shown on one of the links, and St Maximin. Both were pretty similar, though St Maximin was smaller, seemed to have better safety fencing and had a great brass band playing when the bulls weren't running. I felt sorry for the bulls, especially in that clip when tails were pulled very hard. We also went to the last day of Nimes feria, which we normally avoid at all costs. There was water jousting taking place at the edge of the fonatine gardens, and was a great draw, with hundreds of people crowding to watch. I've only seen it on visits to Sete, and most people we spoke to at the jousting had never seen it before - great fun, and many of those participating were youngsters, which was great, as it means it will keep going - but I wouldn't like to be in that nasty green water!

We never stay for the fete votive in our town, as it's in August and by then we've drifted north to avoid the heat and crowds. Several French friends who live there all year round take a break then to avoid the fete votive crowds and noise.

We also have many concerts in the Temple and Cathedral - a marvellous one just before we left was performed by very talented youngsters from Gateshead. There's also the very popular truffle fair in January, when meals of all kinds contain truffles, and scrambled agg with truffles are sold in the square.Truffles can also be bought in their hundreds, if you can afford them, along with little trees so you can grow your own. There's a big auction of the certified truffles which are donated in the Cathedral by truffle hunters during the morning service, with the proceeds going to a nominated charity.

There are also other various various 'fetes' held throughout the year, mostly in autumn, winter and spring to keep tourists coming - wool & silk, pottery, wine, a couple of antiques weekends and a very popular cartoon weekend - so most tastes are covered. We go along to most of them and enjoy them all.

 

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Oh and one of the villages on the river Somme that has eel traps continues to have an annual fête des anguilles, making a big play on come and taste the produits de terroir etc, what they dont like you to learn is that they now have to import the eels and fish from the far east as there has been a ban for many years on the commercial exploitation and sale of anything from this river due to PCB contamination.
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Our village events are brilliant! There's about eight each year organised by various associations (plus, of course, their own dinner / dance affairs, a couple of which - our school's and the hunt - are also worth going to), most of which manage to offer decent food and wine plus entertainment. We are aided by the fact that we have a recently-formed committee des fêtes that is very energetic and well-organised.

When I compare the hideous school, church and village fetes of my youth with their tea-tents and inedible, leather-like, buns with these events... actually, I can't. Chalk and cheese. And the French have got all the cheese.

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Our village has a population of around 60, few of whom seem able to get on with each other. So the nearest it gets to a festival is a string of a dozen or so coloured light bulbs strung across the road near the mairie at Christmas. As an ever-increasing number of the bulbs are blown, and the string is only suspended when somebody can be ar5ed, it makes one feel rather envious of these other places - even Norm's. But at least our place is usually quiet, and no bulls get killed (except when taken several miles to be turned into beef).

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Ours is this weekend. Usually part of it is a meal laid out on tables up in the woods, in a clearing under the trees. With fairy lights and music. But this year there were storms so they had it in the hall.

Plus there's a walk around the patrimoine.

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Our village (Pop.about 600 ) has a very active fete committee. We have a big plant fair at the end of May, then in July there is an annual Foire au Pain when they fire up as many complete bread ovens in the area as possible (this year I think there were 12) and all sorts of traditional breads are made ready for an evening buffet in the village. With the breads are every sort of pate, cold meats, quiches etc you can think of, and another huge table of  cheeses, flans, tarts and cakes for dessert. You take your own wine/beer etc and pay 5 euros if you haven't contribulted a dish towards the buffet, it is a great evening.

Last weekend we had the summer fete - Saturday afternoon was concours de petenque, entrainement ball-trap, tennis tournament followed in the evening by a steak and chips supper and a dance. Sunday started with concours de peche, randonnee and chasse aux tresors, randonnee equestre, local radio broadcast, music 'Bandas', more ball-trap, procession and judging of bicycles and lawnmowers decorated with flowers and the day finished with a torchlight procession and a fantastic firework display. There were also some funfair sideshows and dodgems going on all weekend..

We also have two other Concours de peche, a big Lotto evening, a Christmas fair and an annual exposition on a different theme each year.

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[quote user="Chancer"]Oh and one of the villages on the river Somme that has eel traps continues to have an annual fête des anguilles, making a big play on come and taste the produits de terroir etc, what they dont like you to learn is that they now have to import the eels and fish from the far east as there has been a ban for many years on the commercial exploitation and sale of anything from this river due to PCB contamination.[/quote]

A village not far from us has an annual Fête de la Bigarade (a sort of Seville orange).

This is rather curious as they don't seem to be cultivated there, and the only outfit selling the fruit and plants is from miles away, near Prades.

http://www.ideesgo.com/articles/art-034298-grande-fete-bigarade.html

 

 

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[quote user="gardengirl "]Some fascinating events! One I like very much locally is the chick pea weekend in the next village - very well-attended, and full of fun things to do and see![/quote]

Fun things?  With a chick pea?  The mind boggles!  Do explain further, STP!

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Our fete communale on the last Sunday in July always follows the same pattern. Out of a population of about 220 (plus some holiday home owners and some guests form a neighbouring commune) around 150 sit down to a mid-day repas in the salle des fetes.  This is followed by the jeux intercommunales with the said neighbouring commune, with two teams of young (and older) farmers and others doing various funny and sometimes strenuous competitive activities, ranging from tug-of-war to a hundred-yard dash over rough ground  in overlarge sabots filled with straw. There are the usual sideshows plus bar and crepes. In the evening there is a Bal Populaire in the salle, which often doesn't get going until nearly midnight.

This year the fete coincided with a massive Cyclotourisme event round southern Manche, with one of the routes coming through our commune and past the fete field on a very hot and sunny day.  Some enterprising member of the comite des fetes had the bright idea of putting out a notice saying BUVETTES (and, in much smaller writing, Crepes) and the bar did a roaring trade all afternoon. [:D]

There are soirees in September and February and an arbre de Noel for the children in December, but we're not usually there for those. [:(]

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Brilliant!  We need more of this sort of thing. I'm very fond of chick peas.

There's a place about 10km from us that has a melon fête, complete with a "Miss Melons" competition. But this involves young ladies in bowler hats rather than, well...

Next week we've got one of our school events, a rando followed by a lengthy lunch of local melons, local mussels, cheese from the bloke in the village and tartes we all contribute. It will go on far too late and I will almost certainly get horribly drunk and do karaoke covers of Claude François songs.

I love it here.

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Our main summer event is the Vide Grenier and Fête / Repas Champêtre held on the last weekend of July. The Comité de Fêtes puts up a marquee (our own - purchase and use shared between 4 communes) on Friday / Saturday. The Saturday Erection Party (snigger) start at 08h30... with breakfast. Tripes à la mode de Caen and cider followed by cheese and red wine. By 10am they're ready to start, if not a little "over-ready".

Sunday, the comité prepare, cook and serve about 220 - 230 4-course lunches (salady / crudité things with tête de veau slices as starter) followed by sausages or porc grillade and frites, followed by the obligatory mini-pointe de Bertie and then something like a slice of (apple) Tarte Normande or (and we have a master pâtissier on the comité) home-made beignet-sized profiteroles filled with crème anglaise. Cost: 12€. There are also sausages and frites or saucisse en croûte for those who want one simple course. We did about 100 of those this year. There's a crêpe stall too operating throughout the day.

In the evening, the comité serve another 70 - 100 covers of 3 or 4 courses (dependent on what's still available) until at about 11pm when the feu d'artifice takes place. After that, there's a bal populaire and bar in the salle that goes on till about 4am. We have about 280 residents in the commune but lots of family and friends return to see their friends and rellies.

Very few people appear to be "over-refreshed": there was only one falling-down-drunk pre-fireworks this year and he's French, in his 60s and famous for liking a drink. There are rarely any yoofs who are the worse for wear though there are plenty around.

Other times of the year there's the November Poule au Pot which takes place in the salle and the overflow goes over to the old school room... about 280 people in all; Père Nöel's visit in mid-December when he delivers gifts purchased by the commune for all the kids under the age of 12 (and good quality gifts too); the lunch for "les cheveux blancs" in September (five courses, starts midday-ish, finishes 7pm-ish) and the dinner for all the commune bénévoles in June - at least 4 courses.

For a small village with no commerce or bar, it has a very active comité des fêtes.

The local villages are similar though - through the autumn, most weeks there is some lunch or evening do - a méchoui, moules frites, choucroute, etc.

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We have the Fete de la Caille in late July.  Quail-raising is the village's main industry (they are exported to Japan, among other far-flung placees), and 1,000 of the tiny birds are spatchcocked, marinated and barbecued over a blazing fire of the carpenter's wooden offcuts.  There are a few entertainments during the pm (tossing the quail's egg; splatting the quail's egg; you get the picture); sit-down meal of quail eggs, quail and mogettes* about 6.30pm; and the inevitable bar; accompanied by some slightly off-beat (not quail-related) entertainment while we eat.

Angela

*  For any non-Vendean readerss, the mogette is a rather boring white haricot bean that accompanies ham, lamb, and just about any other meat.  There is even a Fete de la Mogette in a nearby village on 14 Aug every year.  I have never been, but I bet it is on a par with the pois-chiche festival mentioned earlier!

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