It is Fête season. At least in South West France, every village has a fête/festival. Everyone — even Mouzieys-Panens. And on the anniversary of Mouzieys and Panens being joined for 200 years, both places had one, back-to-back (see separate post). Ours lasts two days and since I have been attending it has featured craft and pottery stalls; games for children; activities, such as a portrait artist for adults; snacks (crepes and waffles); and ended with a big communal meal with tables and benches set up in the center of the village along the road in front of the castle/Mairie. The meal is followed by a village dance, comedians and/or a musical show (two years ago we had Can Can dancers!).
With year-rounders, visiting family, summer visitors, people with second homes, and people from surrounding villages I’d estimate more than 200 people at the meal, and that most of the commune attends the meal if not the other events. Like a lot of the smaller ones, our is preceded or followed the next day with Pétanque and Belote (a card game) championships between Mouzieys-Panens and teams from local villages, which firmly grounds it in the local. These events form a perfect opportunity for those returning to the village for all or part of the summer and visiting family to reconnect—with childhood friends and village itself. There is joy and quite a bit of alcohol but I have never seen any ill sprits. I’m always sad if it happens after I leave.
Not just a French tradition
I grew up with village fetes (pronounces “fate” in the UK) so the concept is not unusual to me although they seem to be less common in the UK now. Some were large like the Ebernoe Horn Fair (which I am delighted to say has its own Wikipedia page, although it could use some more pictures and information). I remember hot air balloon rides, games, contests, and dunking chairs, and of course a whole sheep roasting all day in a pit in the middle of the green (in some places a pig). We used to attend the Ebernoe fair long before we knew anyone from Ebernoe (my SIL and her family). The fete in Lynchmere where I grew up used to include a children’s fancy dress contest that we always entered. The English and French fêtes are not the same thing as State or County Fairs in the US, and are much more likely to include sport (cricket in England; pétanque in France) than animal and plant contests, but I think the spirit is the same. And they are firmly grounded in rural life, even if that life includes many fewer farmers than it used to.
Fêtes with themes
Medieval focus
But in addition to the village fêtes, here we also have fêtes organized around a concept or event or a local produce. Perhaps the most famous locally, and the one that put it on the map when it began, is the annual Fêtes médiévales de Cordes sur Ciel (aka Fêtes Médiévales du Grand Fauconnier). It used to run for three days, but this year it is only two and had reduced advertising although the activities were the same. There is a lot of cosplay, along with medieval-inspired entertainment, food, music, falconers, an hour-long jousting show at the bottom of the hill, a torchlight parade, horse rides, traditional dances and song, all winding around the streets of the truly beautiful Cordes-sur-Ciel. But I am not sure many local people attend unless they are hosting visitors or participating and tourism to the area has been in sharper decline since Covid.
As far as an answer to “what do you do when you are in France?” We don’t do this. Today was the first day and I stayed home. Now to be fair, it was 97ºF with a blazing sun and Cordes is on the top of a steep hill with all the parking at the bottom already taken. But I probably would not have gone if it were cooler. I loved going the first few years I was here, and I am always happy to accompany guests, but between the challenge of finding parking and the general sameness I just tend not to go. It really is a festival not a village fête; it is the celebration of an idea, a fantasy, an almost Disneyfied representation of a very complex and violent history, and it is now designed to attract tourists, although that was not the original target I’m told by folks who were around when it started in the 1970s. The food is generally good though, and I love walking around Cordes and finding new things I have missed before (like the fascinating history of wells — see June 26, 2026) Just not as part of this event.
Single product focus
Other fêtes also celebrate a thing / concept rather than a village per se except in as much as the village is where that thing happens. And they also attract people from outside the area in addition to locals who also show up and seem to enjoy the event. In January, for example, there are Fête de la Truffe somewhere every weekend and some on weekdays as well. They are, of course, a celebration of — and place to sell — truffles, which grow and are harvested very seriously in this area. The season is short, mostly just January, and the tubers must be sold.
I went to one of the last ones of the season in Villeneuve Sur Vère on February 1, which included, for lunch, truffle omelette made with the trimmings from damaged or misshapen truffles (I believe), but with a LOT of truffle at the cheapest price I have ever paid for that much incredibly fresh truffle. And eggs are one of the very best accompaniments for truffles to my mind.
In addition to the sit down meal, there were stalls selling other delicacies and beverages, including one selling a truffle desert that I can’t really describe (even if I reference the display, left). A whipped sugar and cream center with pieces of truffle encased in a confection striated and dusted to look like a truffle (see picture above). If I had known how good they were I would have bought out the entire stock! Now that fête was packed and Nadine (who took me and taught me how to buy truffles) had to park way on the edge of town even though she knew all the locally-known places to park!
Basically, truffle sellers show up early for the official truffle market, which follows age old traditions and clear rules carefully overseen by people from the Truffle Associaton. The rest of us show up later to buy what the dealers did not, along with truffle-themes crafts and foods, followed by truffle lunch, but there were also several food trucks, which are recently very popular here.
After a month of truffles in January, comes February’s Fête de l’Osier in Milhar and Fête des Fleurs et du Miel in Laguépie. Both of which I have written about (see Fête de l’Osier, February 9, 2026 and Fête des Fleurs et du Miel, mentioned in post from June 17, 2026]. And so it goes. Individual village fêtes interspersed with themed fêtes can definitely occupy your weekends and part of your week for the first 8 months of the year going into the Fall and only ending when the weather prevents people from being outside. Last year there was a fêtes de Aligot, which, heartbreakingly, I missed. The other one I usually miss is the amazing Fête de la Châtaigne (chestnuts) in Laguépie. I love chestnuts more than aligot and almost as much as truffles, so when I am here in October I always want to attend. The whole valley smells of roasting chestnuts and artisans sell everything you can imagine can be made from chestnuts, and some surprises.
Is it a fête or a festival?
But my very narrow definition of a fête as a celebration within a village that includes a communal meal obviously does not fit all these single-focus events. To complicate things further, maybe, in addition to the themed fêtes, most villages have their own village fête like the one we have in Mouzieys. Milhar’s occurs in mid-August. Laguépie also has a village fête in August in addition to the plant and honey fête in spring and the chestnut fête in the Fall.
Then there are music festivals that are sometimes called fête (like Bel Air). There was a fête at the bottom of the Boutierie last year in the field by the basketball court (next to the arena where the medieval jousting is going on as I write). It featured fantastic African music and although there was food and beer for sale to be consumed at long trestle tables, the music was the main attraction.
My favorite fête/festivals are those with music. They all feature some live music and attendees dance and sing along, but some are real musical extravaganza’s. Whether it is several days of classical music like the festivals in Cordes and Beaulieu-en-Rouergue, or local musicians, dramatic productions, comedy shows, and shows for children, like the festival at Vaour (that I will write about separately), all are accompanied by food, beer and wine (and fruit juice) and communal dining and often singing and dancing. One I have only attended once, last year, Bel Air en Fête, is organized biannually by our friends François and Juan Carlos, but last year by their children. That one is mostly locals and friends of friends of friends on their plateau. Like Vaour and now also the music festival at our local brewery, Auros, people sleep in tents, vans, or the open air and celebrate summer, life, each other. I love it.
The only downside: while there are websites and posters advertising them, these are really a case of IYKYK. Everyone in the relevant village knows the dates in advance, and then posters go up by the side of the road a few weeks before. Sometimes I have to drive around a traffic circle several times before I can see location and dates for fêtes that look interesting or take a photo that is not blurry.
As these posters show, the word fête and festival seem interchangeable, but by describing what will happen, we can make a decision regardless of the name. And maybe someone will explain a distinction in the comments (please . . .)