Things to do in the Languedoc: Cultural
Activities: The Limoux Carnival (
Fécos, 
Carnaval, 
Carnival)
   The
typical village fête is held in late summer when the
nights are still warm, and the crops and grapes have been
harvested. But the annual fête in Limoux, is different
in almost every respect. For a start it lasts not three days,
but over two months; and not in summer but mid winter. It
is the earliest and longest fête in the French calendar,
starting in January and continuing until two weeks before
Easter Sunday.
It is claimed that this fête has been held continuously
since the middle ages. During revolutionary times an Arrêté
of the Municipal Council dated February 1793 attempted to
suppress it, but without success. No-one knows how it all
originated. Some say it originally celebrated concessions
made to the town by a nearby monastery during the Middle Ages.
Others say that it was started by millers in the sixteenth
century celebrating their successful trade with the kingdom
of Aragon. Others link it with the local sparkling white wine
called Blanquette
de Limoux, an ancient wine that gave winegrowers in Champagne
the idea for their product.
 The
earliest written record of the Limoux fête seems to
be a regulation of 1604, but the truth is that the it has
probably been evolving since well before medieval times, adopting
new features over the centuries. At some stage it has been
partially merged with the Christian Lent carnival, and with
pierrot traditions. The introduction of women in 1972
was just the latest in a long history of evolutionary change.
You will find modern musical instruments but also medieval
cornemuses, Micky Mouse costumes and traditional pierrots,
the latest fashions and Fransiscan habits. Hats range from
medieval headgear through eighteenth century tricorns to top
hats and baseball caps.
  The
Limoux fête is generally called a Carnival (Carnaval
in French), but its real name is Fécos,
the local name for its characteristic dances. It starts with
a parade of the organising committee dressed up in comic masks,
white baggy shirts and trousers, wearing red scarves and clogs,
and carrying whips. These Meuniers (Millars) receive
His Majesty, the King of the Carnival, a stuffed dummy, who
will preside in a theoretical sort of way over the proceedings
over the coming weeks.
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Each weekend there will be more parades in the main
square, stopping at the cafés shown on the left
to entertain and annoy the customers.
Every Saturday and Sunday (and on Shrove Tuesday -
Mardi Gras) a bande will make a number
of outings in and around the square. Each bande
consists of a group of masked pierrots and their
accompanying musicians who follow the pierrots
from one café to another in the square, playing
as they walk along, through a tunnel of spectators lining
the ancient arcades.
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   Pierrots
wear a sort of uniform, the forerunner of our modern clown
outfit. Each bande has its own distinctive colours,
often based on the traditional Limoux version: black with
brilliant shiny bands. Pierrots wear a curious expressionless
white mask. They each carry a long, flexible, decorated wand
called a carabéna, and a large bag of confetti.
 Pierrots
dance rhythmically in time to the music, delicately moving
their long springy wands over their heads. This rhythmic dance
is the Fécos. In the old days flour and sweets
were thrown around during the Fécos. Now confetti
is used instead - seven tons of it each year. If you take
photographs you will almost certainly receive a handful over
your head, delivered with grace and panache when you least
expect it.
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  The
language of the Fécos, like the word Fécos
itself, is Occitan,
the traditional language of the area. Speeches are made and
songs are sung in it. Nothing is sacred during the Fécos.
Fun is poked at anything and anybody, from traditional local
targets to national politicians and other figures in the news.
Jokes and accusations that would offend in French seem to
be accepted with good grace in Occitan,
however risqué or slanderous. Some of the songs are
traditional, some written specially for this year's festival.
The musicians in each bande play a range of instruments:
trumpets, trombones, clarinets, tubas and drums. The occasional
cornemuse - a medieval bagpipe made from an entire animal
skin - also makes an appearance. The bandes play from a selection
of some eighty tunes, all in the local style, and not always
easy for outsiders to tell apart. Some of them owe a recognisable
debt to operas and operettas from the end of the 19th
Century and beginning of the 20th.
  Following
the pierrots and the musicians come the goudils.
They too are masked. But their masks and costumes are different
- different from the pierrots' and different from each
other. Each has a distinctive character - an old man, a cartoon
character, a harlequin, a fat woman, a local dignitary, a
clown, the President of the USA. It is often difficult to
determine the real sex of a goudil. There are few limits,
either to their inventiveness or taste.
  Goudils
stop and speak to people. Their conversations or chines
also generally end in the distribution of confetti, but the
goudils' confetti may well be slipped into shirts rather
than scattered over heads. The fécos is not
just a spectacle, and those who witness it are not mere spectators.
They are badauds, participants in the fécos
with their own special name and their own special role. When
they feel the sensuous caresses of a
carabéna they
become the centre of attention. The goudil on the other
end of the carabéna
will be expecting to exchange witty repartee. "Te
counaissi" (I recognise you) says the goudil disguising
his voice, after which he may say something funny, or perhaps
not so funny. The badaud responds with as much wit
as possible. If he recognises the goudil as well he
will have won the exchange.
  
   The
groups who do this are all local. They resemble medieval guilds.
Children take part from an early age and the rules that are
applied so strictly to everyone else are largely ignored for
children in fact is often just an excuse to dress up and have
fun.
 The
first outing starts at 11 a.m., generally inspired by a topical
event, ribald or grotesque wherever possible. The 5 p.m. outing
is slower and the costumes more traditional. The 10 p.m. outing
is the most atmospheric with an even slower rhythm. It is
lit by entorches. These are burning torches made using
ancient techniques. They burn for a full 2 hours. By their
light the pierrots process, slowly moving their carabénas
and distributing confetti. It all makes a colourful spectacle.
Other events are held from time to time, for example the king
might be brought down to judge a proof beauty contest.
   At
first glance you might imagine it had all been invented for
the benefit of tourists, but this is not the tourist season;
and there are older, deeper elements at play. The pierrots
dress with almost religious care. Every action is dictated
by rules, some written, some passed down by word of mouth.
For example pierrots must never remove their masques
in public. They must wear "very fine" escarpins and gloves,
and a cagoule under their masques. They hold the carabinas
in a special way. They must move slowly, dancing by moving
only their arms and legs, not heads or bodies. They lead the
musicians and interact with them - the interplay can be surprisingly
intense. Only at their command will the music stop. There
are always 14 musicians plus a meneur to lead them.
Goudils must always remain behind the musicians. There
are secrets too. Those entorches are made with resins
according to a jealously preserved method, dating from a time
when people had their own recipes for such things.
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  Look
a little closer still, and you will find yet older, darker
elements. Chines for example are not always innocent
fun. Anonymity allows things to be said that would otherwise
remain unsaid. Those cagouls and masks, gloves and the disguised
voices are important ways to help conceal a goudil's
identity. Many a badaud has been caressed by a carabéna, looked into a mask, and heard a strange voice confide some
dreadful or embarrassing truth about questionable business
deals, illegal activities or private family matters.
  On
the last night of the last day of Carnival, the Sunday before
Palm Sunday, a trial is held of the King of the Carnival.
At midnight His Majesty, the straw mannequin, is tied to a
stake and judge, prosecuter, defence council, and an executioner
make speaches - all in Occitan.
The King is defended vigorously but the prosecution wins the
case and the King is condemned to death. Through the fun and
games there is a reminder that this is the area where the
Cathars
flourished, where the medieval Inquisition
was created by Saint
Dominic's Dominican friars, and where countless people
were burned alive for the crime of chosing their own form
of religious belief. Even the joke executioner in his black
hood can send a chill down the spine.
  Immediately
after the trial the King of the Carnival is burned on a pyre
in the centre of the main square, as the pierrots throw
their carabénas and masques into the flames:
They chant "Adiou paure canaval, tu t'en vas e iu demori
jusqu'à l'annada que ven" (Goodbye poor Carnival,
you go, and I remain until next year). Participants fall to
their knees bewailing His Majesty's passing and bowing to
the ground towards his burning remains, then stand up, join
hands, and dance around the fire singing bawdy ditties about
the coming Spring. They do this three times as the King burns,
then the Carnival is over for another year.
 The
annual Spring election and sacrifice of a king is well known
to anthropologists. It is a popular theme found in many cultures
around the world marking the passing of one year and the birth
of the new. In Europe it often points to origins not in the
Middle Ages but in prehistoric times.
So the reason that the origins of the festival at Limoux
seems so hazy is not that early written records have been
lost. It is rather that the origins date back to a time before
writing had been invented, a time when real people rather
than straw effigies were sacrificed to help restore the sun,
ussher in the Spring and ensure a good harvest.
Click
here for this year's Carnival (
Fécos,
Carnaval) programme 
Click below for photographs of the 2008 Carnival:
- Les
Aïssables, 6th January 2008 Carnival
- Les
Pébradous, 26th January 2008 Carnival
- Las
Femnos, 27 January, 2008 Carnival
- Les
Pitchouns & Las Coudenos, 2nd February 2008 Carnival
- Les
Anciens, 5th February, 2008 Carnival
- Les
Estabousits & Les Taps, 9th February 2008 Carnival
- Le
Tivoli, 2nd March 2008 Carnival
- Monte
Cristo , 9th March 2008 Carnival
+ La
Nuit de la Blanquette
 Click
here for photographs of the 2007 Carnival
Click
here for photographs of the 2006 Carnival
Click
here for photographs of the Carnival from earlier years
Click
here to go to the main Limoux page
Click
here for more on Blanquette de Limoux and Cremant de Limoux
Click
here for more photographs of Limoux
Click
here for more the Toque et Clocher at Limoux
Click
here for more photographs of the Languedoc and the Midi
   
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