Limoux Carnival

Limoux, an interesting little town about 25 km south of Carcassonne, has long had an international reputation for 2 things: its famous Blanquette wine and its legendary carnaval (French) or fécos (Occitan, the traditional language of the area).

Blaquette de Limoux is officially the world’s oldest naturally-sparkling wine on record, as its production and distribution were described in 1531 by the Benedictine monks at the nearby abbey of Saint-Hilaire, who are rumoured to have discovered the wine themselves (see http://louisandlouisa.com/2006/07/st-hilaire-blanquette-de-limoux-2003/ for further details).

The Limoux Carnival is thought to be the oldest carnival in the world, running anually since at least the 16th century. There is no agreement as to exactly how or why the carnival started, but one (admittedly rather tenous) theory is that the bubbly wine inspired such merriment and party spirit, that a carnival was invented in its honour. Another theory is that it is derived from a pagan winter festival.

The carnival here differs in many ways from the common French summer festivals of many other towns and villages. Firstly, the Limoux carnival is much longer lasting than most, as it takes place every weeekend for ten consecutive weeks; secondly it runs in the winter from January until Easter; and thirdly, the ’sorties’ or performances, occur three times a day.

The first sortie is at 11 in the morning, and has a political theme; its general purpose seems to be to mock any of the year’s news stories. The second sortie is at 4 30 in the afternoon and the thirs is at 10 at night. Each sortie begins with the band (made up of local musicians only) entering the first café of the 4 it will enter on its way around the square.

Behind the band come the dancers (pierrots) who will be dressed in a different costume every year, but are all uniform.

Whilst following the band around the square, the pierrots perform the traditional festival dance, the fécos (after which the carnival is named), which involves moving your arms but not the rest of your body (except for moving forwards or revolving on the spot).

Every pierrrot comes armed with a bag of confetti, and seems to think it their duty to ensure that no one returns home without having had a handful thrown in their face at least once. In fact, if you recieve a facefull of confetti yopu have got off lightly- dancers are often seen rubbing handfuls in people’s hair, or esle shoving it down the back of their necks.

Spectators beware: towards the end of the evening, the dancers may try to grab people from the crowd and encourage you to dance with them- great if you’re up for it, but if you’re not, make sure you’re not standing right at the front!

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Behind the official dancers in matching costumes come the ordinary people dressed up in various costumes who dance behind (goudils)- anyone is allowed to join on the end as long as you are in some form of fancy dress! The more bizarre the costume the better!

On the final sortie of the last day of the carnival (21st March this year), the spectacle doesn’t end after the band, pierrots and goudils have finsihed their laps of the square. At midnight, the king of the carnival is put on trial. This trial is held entirely in Occitan, whilst the effigy of the king is tied to a stake, awaiting judgement. Up until this year, the prosecution had always won and therefore the burning of the king has always followed. For the first time in the carnival’s history, the king was let off this year.

The pierrots still proceeded to gather in a circle on their knees around the fire however, singing their mournful and chilling chant of “Adiou paure canaval, tu t’en vas e iu demori jusqu’à l’annada que ven” (Farewell poor Carnival, for you depart, and I shall remain until the coming year), while the effigy was burned.

The carnival is altogether a very odd combination of sinister yet jolly; historical yet current; and gauche yet elegant. It is without a doubt truly unique and authentic experience however, and an event I would encourage anyone in the area to go and witness.