The most important carnivals Midi-Pyrénées

Pézenas' patron saint, Saint Blaise, is widely celebrated in this corner of Occitanie when spring arrives! For almost a month, the streets are alive with music, traditional dances and fancy-dress parades, not forgetting the traditional escoubille stew and its world championship. An event that brings together all generations and bears witness to the fervour of the Occitan people for their traditions!

With its flowered floats, its balls and its animations, the Carnival of Amélie-les-Bains is one of the most beautiful and popular carnivals of the Pyrénées-Orientales. Known since the ^19th century under the name of cavalcade, the carnival sees crowds in jubilation. The most astonishing moment remains the parade of the "Grégoire améliens": penitents dressed in white, bury the Grégoire, the Carnival Majesty, by walking him through the city before burning him in the public square.

COCU? The Organizing Committee of the Unified Carnival! It is this colourful association that organises the Toulouse Carnival. On the initiative of several student and cultural associations, the arrival of spring is celebrated as it should be. It all starts with a descent of the Avenue de la Colonne in a soapbox. Music, refreshments and workshops, the atmosphere is guaranteed. Then there is a treasure hunt followed by a neighbourhood party on Place de l'Extrapade, which lasts several days, with small gifts from the shopkeepers! Finally comes the parade, which starts with the handing over of the keys of the city by the Mayor and ends with music after, of course, the cremation of Mr. Carnaval.

The village of Prats de Mollo la Preste is every year the theater of a traditional and singular carnival. To celebrate the imminent return of spring, the villagers disguise themselves as bears, the emblematic animal of the region. They put on a sheepskin and cover themselves with soot. Armed with clubs, these bears start a wild saraband and lead in a crazy farandole. Three days of carnival festivities including the parade of the Carnival Majesties.