Assumption and More

The 15th of August - The Assumption - is a national holiday in France. The holiday traditionally celebrates the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Since Louis XII, France has been under the protection of Our Lady of Assumption, and thus the 15th of August has been one of the most important Catholic feast days for over 300 years. Nowadays, it is still celebrated across the country with a special mass in the morning, but it's more widely celebrated with fireworks and a party in the evening. I was able to go to the fireworks with a friend, and this time they were set to music. Here are a few photos from that evening.

View from the hotel restaurant on
top of the dune at the beach

Beautiful sunset

Dancing the night away

The day after, Carlos took the girls to his parents' place and I had a few days at home to do a major cleanup. I sorted through the girls' clothes and toys and reorganized both their closets, I sorted through my own clothes and reorganized the closet in Carlos and my bedroom using the KonMari method, which ended up working out really well, as you will see below. I also worked on a few projects that I hadn't been able to get done with the girls around. It was nice to have a little break, though I was very happy when they got back home again!

Making a chalkboard table!

Four coats of chalkboard paint and now the girls can
draw on their table!

Very messy closet. Pretty ashamed of
what a mess it had become

After sorting through everything and
employing the KonMari method
to fold my clothes, my closet is now
so much tidier, and my clothes all fit!

August

More photos of our adventures in August!

Blowing bubbles in the morning

On the ride at the beach

Pony rides at the Feria de Parentis

Playing with toys on Children's Day
at the Feria

Minion balloons!

We also had quite an artistic summer

Making a Treasure Box with Aimy

Very focused

She loved making that with me

Feria de Parentis

On the 7th of August, I went to the opening ceremony of the Feria de Parentis (also called Feria de la Sen Bertomiu). A Feria is another summer tradition in the south-west of France, though some do take place in other parts of the country (Nîmes and Arles, to name the famous ones). This 5-day-long festival revolves around bullfighting, though originally the feria was more of a farmer's market with lively evening gatherings. But any festayre (the word for feria partygoers) will tell you that to them, the Feria is a street party where everyone can mingle and enjoy themselves, regardless of background and social standing.

As I said before, the feria is a time for the Course Landaise, which I talked about in the blog entry about the croque vaches Aimy and I went to see in July. But it's not just about bullfighting. There are also parades, games and activities for adults and children, and, at night, bodegas, or temporary bars with festive music and food and drink, become the focus of attention. And, another staple of the feria is the presence of bandas, which are somewhat like marching bands in that they often play while walking or standing, but their repertoire is related to the music of the feria - namely the traditional paso dobles and other music associated with the course landaise, as well as silly festival songs with humorous lyrics.

Going to the feria means wearing traditional clothing as well. Everyone dresses in white with red accessories, the most important one being the red kerchief that is only knotted around the neck once the opening ceremony is done - at one point, everyone holds a corner in each hand and waves it back and forth in time with the music. (If you search for Feria de Parentis or Feria de Dax on Google, you'll see lots of pictures of people doing just that)

The opening ceremony took place at the arena in Parentis, and began with the local banda, Lous Pegaillouns, playing traditional music. Next, the 20 year olds (since it was 2015, those born in 1995) came out into the arena in a bus and the mayor gave them they keys to the city and officially declared the feria to be open. After a bit more music, we headed to the bodega run by the banda, where I sampled coeur de canard et frites (duck heart and fries, a traditional dish from Les Landes, the department where I live) for the first time. Then, a succession of bandas played at the bodega and we danced and sang until the wee hours of the morning. It was a lot of fun, though I didn't know any of the traditional songs, but it's definitely something I would like to do again. However, I believe we'll be in BC next year during the 2016 feria, so it'll have to wait until summer 2017!

Panoramic photo of the arena. Jam packed!

We got there an hour and a half before the ceremony stated,
but having friends (and people who could tell me all about
the traditions!) made time go by very quickly!

Lous Pegaillouns parading

Another panorama

Here come les 20 ans! (the 20-
year-olds!)

Cheering them on

Receiving the keys to the city (and candy from the city
councillors!)

Coeurs de canard!

Croque Vaches

Mid-July, Aimy and I were able to watch another traditional event in the south west of France. It goes by many names - Intervache, toroball - but in Parentis-en-Born, the city where we saw the show, and the one where I lived for 8 months in 2007-8, it is called the Croque Vaches (the Cow Crunch).

The Croque Vaches is a variant of the Course Landaise, an ancient form of bullfighting in Gascony, the area where we live. Bullfighting without bloodshed has been part of local culture for hundreds of years, and several versions of the Course Landaise are performed here throughout the summer. I hope to see the original version at some point in my life, but this July, Aimy and I went to see the very first Croque Vaches of the season. In this event, two teams of amateurs from two different cities (usually the host city against a visiting team) face off in several games throughout the course of the evening, but the games involve a vachette - a young cow with horns bred especially for the games. Since the Croque Vaches is for amateurs, the vachettes are young and quite light compared to the bulls used in the Course Landaise.

Though there are many different games perfomed during these events, the evening where Aimy and I went with friends showcased some of the crowd's favourites, such as the banana tree, where one member of each team had to run across the arena, climb a pole with an umbrella on top and try to grab one of the bananas hanging from the umbrella and take it back across the arena to his teammate, who had to eat it, and do so as many times as possible during the 5 minute game... all without getting hit by the vachette. Of course, there are people on his team that try to distract the animal and get him to charge away from the banana grabber, but there are also the opposing team members who try to send the vachette towards the other team.

The neutral 'rodeo clowns' parading
before the start of the games.
Just like in a rodeo, they are there
to help distract the animals and
keep the participants from getting
injured

The two team leaders introducing
their teams and the first event

Here comes the vache!

Go Red Team! Climbing the pole to
grab a banana

Running away...

This first game was followed by a series of other games, where the team members had to run through the pool in the middle, grab a big tin can and flatten it with a hammer enough so that it would fit through the slot in the box on the opposite side of the arena. The team to get the most cans in the box by the end of the allotted time won the most points.

You can just see them trying
to flatten the cans on stumps on the
far side of the arena

There were several other games that I enjoyed. For exaple, one really thrilling game had pairs of players had a piece of fabric resembling the toreador's cape and had to try to get the vachette (a much smaller and younger one than in these pictures) to run between them under the cape. Another one had one player in a plastic oil drum holding a huge hoop, while teammates would try to tempt the animal into running through it, with each passage of the bull through the hoop counting for one point.

One of the cows wouldn't come out of
the pool, so they had to send the
rancher out with the mama cow to
try to tempt him out of the arena!

Trying to decide what to do...

There were also a few games where the public could participate, with and without animals. One of them had young women come into the arena... they were asked to run across the arena (through the pool, of course!) and, once on the other side, put their forehead against a pole standing upright on the ground, and turn around in a circle ten times, and then carry a pie plate full of whipped cream back across the arena to their teammates. I laughed so hard I almost cried... those poor volunteers! They also had a game where they attached a bow to a cow's head and offered prizes to the member of the public who was brave and agile enough to take it off... and that's when you realize just how good the 'amateurs' who are part of these Intervache teams really are, because you are really a heartbeat away from getting seriously injured at one of these events.

Though Aimy was very tired - we didn't get home until after 11:30 - she enjoyed seeing the cows and going out with me and my friends and their children. The Croque Vaches is a big part of life here in our area and I'm sure we'll be going to see one again soon.

More Summer Fun

More photos of the girls enjoying summer!

Sisters at the lake

Love her hair in this photo!

Playing with the neighbours's son at the lake

Another beautiful sunset

In the pool with their cousin

So proud of her hair

Icecream!

Aimy wanted strawberry

Action shot!

They both have purses like mummy

Sunset at the lake

Aimy playing bocce with one of
my good friend's daughters

At the shady playground - a blessing on hot summer days!

Having fun together