Summer in France: Bayonne festival to kick off
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00:00Summertime in France is synonymous with festivals of all sorts, from music events to city-wide parties.
00:06Such gatherings are an integral part of France's cultural heritage.
00:10We're going to look at this closely now with Solange Mougin, who joins me on the set.
00:14Hi, Solange.
00:15Hi, Jeannie.
00:16So, Solange, there's actually a big, big major event that kicks off today in southwestern France.
00:19Tell us about that.
00:20Yeah, it's the FĂȘte de Bayonne, one of France's largest parties.
00:25For the next five days, in the Basque Country, in southwestern France,
00:29well, it basically becomes a huge sea of red and white.
00:33It is essentially a massive city-wide fiesta with lots of drinking and dancing and cultural events.
00:40Now, last year's edition, it broke attendance records with 1.3 million people, many of them very young people.
00:47Now, la fĂȘte, or the party, which started first in 1932, is usually actually held at the end of July or early August,
00:56but the timing this year was changed because of the Olympics.
01:00However, the tradition of ringing in the festival from the balcony of Town Hall still holds true and will tonight,
01:07under the watchful eye of the mascot, King LĂ©on,
01:11and invited guests are asked to throw the city's symbolic keys into the crowd.
01:18I have so many questions. Who's King?
01:24I declare the FĂȘte de Bayonne open!
01:27Now, this being Basque Country, there are some very specific regional rules.
01:39First, there is the dress code.
01:41You wear white, but have a red scarf that you can only put around your neck once the party has officially started.
01:48Interestingly enough, the uniform is actually relatively new.
01:52It didn't catch on until the 1980s and 90s, and is now mostly followed.
01:58Then there are terms that you need to know in order to blend in with the others.
02:03The partygoers are not called partiers or fĂȘtards in French.
02:07Rather, they're called festerés.
02:10This word originates not from the Basque language, but from hesteres, or party in Occitan-Gascon dialects.
02:20Then there are peñas.
02:21These are associations that create events around the city.
02:25People wander from one peña to another to join an event, to drink, and to listen to bandas, or bands.
02:31There's a final term that we need to know, which is paquito.
02:35This is the tradition of sitting on the ground in front and behind someone,
02:39and moving your body forward and backwards while someone crowdsurfs above your head.
02:43All of these traditions stem from the Navarre region of Spain.
02:48The FĂȘte de Bayonne is a feria, or a bullfighting event,
02:51much like the one in Pamplona, which is going on right now, and which also runs until the 14th of July this year.
02:58There will be a lot of bullfighting and running of the bulls, and drinking as well, this week in both Spain and in France as well.
03:05What's interesting is these ferias, or these bullfighting events, are actually quite a divisive issue here in France.
03:11The FĂȘte de Bayonne repeatedly grapples with this divisive issue, but there are also other issues at the party as well.
03:17Yeah, regularly there are protests by animal rights activists in Bayonne, but also France's other southern feria cities.
03:24Unraveling all of this could be a segment in itself, but it is important to mention here.
03:29As for the other major issues, there's first and foremost the question of safety,
03:34especially with so many young people who are often incredibly drunk.
03:37Now, the city spent over âŹ1 million out of its âŹ4 million budget on security last year.
03:44It was also, for the first time ever, actually slightly profitable, as the festeres, the partiers,
03:51they actually have to buy passes or arm bracelets to attend the event.
03:56Nonetheless, there are associations in the city that are trying to make this massive party safer, especially for women.
04:04This comes after multiple rape charges and even a murder charge happened last year.
04:09There are prevention campaigns, but it does sort of remain a bit of an Achilles heel for the city,
04:15as it actually tries to ensure that a million people stay in this fun festival bubble.
04:22So the FĂȘte de Bayonne starts today, but that's not the only festival starting today.
04:26No, a bit further north, along the Atlantic coast, La Rochelle is kicking off its 40th edition of its music festival, Les Francopholis, today.
04:36And like with Bayonne, residents are in for five days of fun.
04:40Now, Les Francopholis is a mid-sized music festival with a little less than 20,000 visitors, but it draws...
04:47That's pretty big.
04:48Yeah, it is pretty big, but compared to Bayonne, it's a bit smaller.
04:51It draws big names in French music, as well as lesser-known bands, be it on the main stage or as part of its fringe or its off festival.
05:04I came to see Calogero because it's been a while, but otherwise I like discovering other stars.
05:10There are musicians that I know, but I also like discovering others. I stay all evening.
05:15Now, Les Francopholis is actually, at 40, one of France's older music festivals.
05:20In total, there are some 7,000 festivals in France every year, and half of them, while they're less than a decade old.
05:28So the festival circuit is booming. It's growing, be it for music, the arts, or even niche concepts.
05:33But what's interesting to note here is how France shines when it comes to festivals.
05:39With these 7,000 of them, that's a lot more than the 2,000 in Italy and the 1,000 in Germany and the UK.
05:47So these collective moments, while they really have become a part of French life and French society.
05:53That's incredible. 7,000 festivals. I'm trying to run the numbers, how many that is in a year.
05:57That's a lot of festivals.
05:58All year long, there are festivals across France.
06:00Thanks for telling us about them, Solange. That's France 24's Solange Moujon.