French Boys Activities: Festivals


Figure 1.--Here we see a scene the Youth Festival in Guingamp, Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany. It is unusual that French boys are barefoot and shirtless on the street away from beach resorts. The boys seem to be wearing their school gym suits. During the 1950s and 60s it was fairly common in northern Europe for boys to do gym/had physical education wearing just gym shorts. Guingamp is a n interesting town. It is promoting the Breton langiuage, 15 percent of the primary schools are bilingual. The most important festival is the Breton dance festival of Saint-Loup, held every year in mid-August. There is the annual ‘pardon’, attracting pilgrims to pay homage to the ‘Black Virgin’ in the Basilica of Notre Dame de Bon Secours. The town is known for the remains of three castles, razed on the orders of Cardinal Richelieu. Only three towers survuved.

We do not yet know a great deal about festivals in France. The country has a long, rich history and fascinating culture. As a result there are many varied festivals, especially during the summer and early fall. The French as a result if an expansive welfare system enjoy 5 weeks of paid vacatioin annually and thus have plenty of time to enjoy the many varied festivals. Most French people take their vacations in July and August. We notice a huge number of fairs and festivals, traditional ceremonies, as well as sporting events, and cultural events like concerts. From HBC's perspective, the regional town festivals and fairs are especially interesting when local residents bring out their folk costumes to war. Until fairly recently in French history, the regions and provinces were very important with fascinating cultural and linguistic traditions. Hopefully our French readers will be able to tell about some of their favoirite fetivals.








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Created: 7:21 PM 5/15/2012
Last updated: 7:21 PM 5/15/2012