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 Fête 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 fête, 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 Léon,

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 Fête 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 fêtards 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 Fête 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 Fête 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 €1 million out of its €4 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 Fête 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.

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