After the rain, Midsummer: Occitan culture celebrated in Albi

The strong storms which hit the Albigensian region on Saturday afternoon slightly disrupted the program for this Midsummer celebration. The traditional “ressega” notably had to be canceled by the organizers. This stroll through the streets of the city identically reproduces that which was carried out in Albi in 1492 for the birth of the dauphin Charles-Orland, son of King Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany.

But with the weather calming down at the end of the day, the party was able to continue. At the start of the evening, students from the Tarn traditional music conservatory began to liven up Place Sainte-Cécile to the sound of their goatskin bagpipes and their oboes from the Monts de Lacaune, before everyone gathered on Place du Vigan for the torchlight procession.

A little after 10 p.m., the big start was given. Musicians in the lead, followed by the “consuls”, 6 elected officials from the city who take part in the game every year, then by the children from the Calandreta and Rochegude schools. If the older ones lit torches, the younger ones made earthen tealight holders during an educational day organized at the beginning of June at La Mouline. Everyone had also prepared small bundles of oaths, intended to be thrown into the Midsummer fire.

Procession in the pedestrian streets

The procession set off with music through rue Timbal then rue Mariès, before returning to Place Sainte-Cécile where the public and the mayor of Albi Stéphanie Guiraud-Chaumeil awaited them. Musicians and consuls took their places at the foot of the cathedral. The traditional formula “que la Janada s’abrande” (“let Saint-Jean set ablaze” in Occitan) was launched and the fire was lit in front of several hundred people. With a little fright, given the heavy smoke and projections that were released after ignition, following a gust of wind. The public moved a little further away from the safety zone and everything quickly returned to order, under the watchful eye of the firefighters, ready to intervene if necessary.

What followed was a beautiful farandole around the fire, with music, mixing parents, children, members of the Occitan cultural center of Albigeois (CCOA) and simple onlookers. A successful evening which concluded two days of festivities to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Janada, organized by CCOA volunteers in conjunction with parents and teachers from the French-Occitan bilingual schools in Albi.