Carnaval

The time has come to speak of the infamous Carnaval, and no, I did not misspell carnival. It is Carnaval, the week-long celebration leading up to Mardi Gras and the period of Lent. The Carnaval celebration in Pau is quite famous and its tradition is particular to the Béarn region; the speeches, etc. were spoken in Béarnese, not in French; however, since not all of the people in Pau are Béarnese, there were French translations. This was the most lively week of my stay here; everyone was out dancing, eating, drinking, and singing every night of the week: old, young, foreign, bears (we'll get there, don't worry). There are costumes and skits, and it's so much fun!

Saturday: This was the opening of the festival and began with the arrival of Sent Pançard, the fat king who symbolizes essentially the seven deadly sins: he's fat, lazy, greedy, lustful, etc. He comes into the city and is given the key to the city by the mayor, and he just takes over, turning every night into party night.

So much cow bell

Sent Pançard in his chariot

That's one of SP's goonies. 

Key to the city

SP et moi

Fast forward to Wednesday (WARNING, if children are reading this, please skip to Thursday):

So Wednesday is where the bears come in. There is a legend (I hope I recount this accurately) that basically says that long ago there was a group of bears who came out of the mountains to the village and started mating with the women of the town. The men of the village then had to kill all of the bears. So, Wednesday night was a bit of a recount of these events: There were men dressed up as the women of the village and there were other men dressed up as the bears. These bears were very anatomically (ahem) explicit. So the night began with the bear chase where the bears chased down and "raped" the women; they were technically supposed to just attack the dressed-up men, but if there were women (real women) wearing any kind of pink or if the bear happened to know someone in the crowd, then the crowd got a bit of action.

So next, there are women dressed up as the men of the village, and they have to hunt the bears and "castrate" them. Once a bear has been castrated, he can no longer attack the "women." So there you have it: Wednesday night. At the end of the chase there was a big party. Here's me with a castrated bear:

Ok children, you may begin reading HERE: Thursday: La Vie en Rose
Sent Pançard's wife, Carronha, decided to throw a huge party for all of her friends; this party symbolized women independence and liberation, as Sent Pançard had to obey the women for a change. He ended up working behind the bar. Everyone wore pink and there were many more cross-dressers. There were two bands (both very good) who played folky French music.

Night out with the girls

Saturday number two: The parade!
There were so much people in Pau on this day! I met my friends au centre ville and we then met up with my French conversation partner who was with her friends and co-workers; all of them were dressed up as the old cranky women of the village. We all donned our scarves over our heads and joined them.

Estelle et moi

The parade isn't really organised at all besides the bands and SP's chariot; anyone can walk along in the parade who wants to. There was confetti and silly-string everywhere. It was such a fun day walking around the town. I even got pulled onto SP's chariot by his goonies; they carried (almost dropping in my case) random girls from the crowd to SP who demanded his "jolie bisous" (pretty kiss). I tried to get by with a kiss on the cheek, which didn't fly, so I just tucked in my head and said "non, non, non, non" until SP's wife pushed me off the chariot. Ah, French traditions.

Mortifying

 






























The parade led up to La Place de la Liberation where SP's trial took place. He was found guilty of causing every problem in the world including world hunger and the economic crisis. He was sentenced to be burned to death on Mardi Gras.

After the trial and sentence, I went out to dinner with some friends and I tried 'tartine' which is cheesy bread with yummy stuff on it. Mine had foie gras on it. Mmm.

After dinner, we headed over to the tent and and proceeded to dance the night away.

Mardi Gras!!
It was the night of the burning and the final night of Carnaval. Good bye Sent Pançard!

So that was Carnaval! I love this tradition so so much and wish we it was celebrated in the US. It's lively, exciting and crazy and gets everyone in the community acting silly and enjoying life.