La Fête de Lunel - the Lunel Festival

This week it's the Fête de Lunel. On Saturday the town was packed for the opening procession, with people in traditional costume, marching bands and horses, culminating with 100 bulls running through the streets. For this reason the route is lined with sturdy iron fences over 2 metres high. A human being can comfortably squeeze through, but hopefully not a bull!

People are sometimes surprised to find a bull culture here in the south of France, but it's as much part of the local tradition here as in Spain. The black bulls here are smaller than the Spanish ones, and in the arènes the spectacles are courses camarguaises in which young men - raseteurs - chase (and are frequently chased by) bulls to retrieve tiny trophies tied to their horns. Each season there are leagues with champion raseteurs but also champion bulls. A bull may be 15 years old by the time it retires and the best become wily and smart, so the contests are full of guile and cunning, and athleticism as the young men leap the barriers for safety.

Each town, even quite a small village, will have its arènes and although a few (like Nîmes or Arles) are Roman, most like Lunel's are modern concrete structures. There are some corridas in the Spanish tradition here in the Languedoc, in which bulls are put to death, but most are courses camarguaises using the local black bulls and white horses, both originally wild in the Camargue and now raised on special farms or manades. Around the spectacles in the public arènes is a whole array of processions, ceremonies and rites in the manades and in the streets of towns and villages. These are not without risks, not least for the daring young people who dart out foolishly from the barricades as the bulls arrive. The release of the bulls is announced by cannon fire; at that moment, in our first year here, I was amazed to hear an announcement in several languages to the effect that 'bulls may be dangerous' and local councils put up notices disclaiming responsibility for accidents - health and safety is often stating the blindingly obvious - but even without the combined effects of pastis and sun the thrill is probably irresistible to some.

Horses in the streets are more controllable, and later this week there is a blessing of 100 horses in the square by the church. The horses, including young foals with their mothers, crowding through the streets, the colourfully dressed riders or gardiens, and the traditional occitan hymns are impressive and moving.