The Croix d'Occitan

Les Occitans

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La Fète d'Occitan

Yesterday – Saturday, October 22nd – we went down to the baisse ville (the lower town) to lunch and found ourselves in the middle of a fête and manifestation celebrating the original language of the area which is called “Occitan”. In fact one of the names for the area is Rousillon-Languedoc – and the “Langue D’Oc” literally means “the language of Oc”. Evidently “oc” was/is the word used in Occitan for “yes”. When the invaders from northern france came in and took over in the early part of the 13th century (??) or thereabouts, one of the things they did was repress the local language along with burning the last of the Cathars at the stake. There has been a resurgence of knowledge and pride in the language, which is now taught in some of the schools, and in the special culture of the Occitan people.

The park “en face de la Gare” (across from the train station) was full of red and yellow flags emblazoned with the cross of Occitan, and almost everyone was wearing red or yellow in some form. There were a number of musical groups, playing in the troubadour tradition, which is part of the tradition of the Cathar people, who were part of the classic age of the Occitan culture. You can see and hear the celtic influence in both the music and the instruments – which include bagpipes where you can easily tell that the “bag” once belonged to a sheep or a pig! The Troubador tradition was born in this area (the Occitan word “trobar” means “poetry”, as was the tradition of “courtly love”.

We stopped at a table selling free trade wares to buy some politically correct coffee and chocolate, and the couple behind the table began greeting us quite enthusiastically – after some friendly confusion it turned out that they are our neighbors “directement en face” on Rue Paul Lacombe. They have a large windowed sun room facing the street and our direction … but I digress – more about the neighbors here (hopefully, a link to the digression about meeting the neighbors that went on far too long to be included here…) – otherwise see “Meeting the Neighbors”

We found out from our newly met neighbors that the whole crowd was going to parade over the Vieux Pont (a beautiful 14th century bridge over the Aude river leading up to La Cité, now pedestrian only) and march up into the city. David and I decided to beat them there, and drove up to the foot of the hill on which La Cité du Carcassonne is perched. However, it took them quite a while to arrive, so we took the opportunity to visit with our friends Julie, Nicole, and Sabine at their various shops.

Afterwards, Sabine invited us to dinner at her house. Her copine (best friend) Mandarine joined us, along with Julie and Nicole, so Dave got to sit with five women chattering in French. (Well, in my case, stuttering might be a more apt word, but I understood almost all.) Poor Baby….(I don’t think he was too upset….especially after the 3rd or 4th bottle of wine). And Sabines wonderful slow cooked gigot (leg of lamb) didn’t hurt either.

So, another day in Carcassonne went by.

posted by Louisa at 1:19 PM