The difference between ‘fanfares’ and ‘bandas’.
Although France has been laïque (secular) since 1905, there are a huge number of festivals and traditions based around the lives, accomplishments or remarkable events that happened to various saints.
The 15th August is the festival of l’Assomption – a jour férié (public holiday) celebrated by Catholics throughout France and commemorating the departure of Mary from this life and the assumption of her body into heaven.
Music for the sardane is played by a cobla, a wind band with double bass consisting of 12 instruments played by 11 musicians. Four of these instruments (tenora, tible, flabiol and tamborí) are typical Catalan instruments along with the more traditional trumpet, trombone, fiscorn and double bass. The makeup of a cobla never varies.
As the Feria approaches, Simon Newman looks back on the traditional bull running in the streets of Ceret.
The poor were starving to death on the streets of Paris. In the royal palace, the king’s breakfast consisted of 4 chops, a full chicken, six poached eggs and a slice of ham, washed down with a bottle and a half of champagne.
In the sumptuous surroundings of the Chateau de Jau and its former silk-factory turned exhibition space, Nicolas Cussac’s art has found a home for the summer.
This winter, 2024, Chateau d’Aubiry will host ‘Les Splendeurs de Chine’, a theme park dedicated to Chinese culture, with 2,600 lanterns.
La Fête du Travailleur Catalan is a family-friendly festival that has taken place every year since 1937!
Despite it’s beginnings in Christianity, the Feux de la Saint Jean is linked with ancient practices and white magic