Tomorrow is the start of the Fête de Lunel which always takes place in the week around the National holiday of 14 July. We probably shan't be going this year, but for the last three we have been around to see the procession on the first Saturday, the 100 bulls running through the town and into the Arènes, and we've taken part in other festivities including a déjeuner au pré (sausages and pastis for breakfast at a manade or bull farm, with eggs and flour thrown about to liven things up) and visits to the Arènes for the Course Camarguaise.
Those who regard bull fighting with suspicion seem to me to be right about the Spanish Corrida, cruel and ending in the death of the bull. Corridas happen here in the Languedoc, but our local tradition around the Camargue and featuring the local black bulls is much more entertaining and allows the bulls their chance of glory. Young men - raseteurs - chase them to try and retrieve trophies tied to their horns, and they in turn chase the young men. Bulls retire at around 15 years old, and there is a champion bull as well as a champion raseteur each year.
This year we have a whole family (adults and children) staying for the festival weekend, and one of the women is taking place in the parade tomorrow dressed in traditional Arlesienne costume. I've put a couple of pictures of previous years' Fêtes with this post to give a bit of a flavour of the event. Today we were in town shopping and there was a whirl of activity as extra counters and tables were erected outside cafés, tiers of seats erected alongside the procession route and a special road surface laid round a tight bend so that the bulls won't slip over. Proper tarmac - I'm all of saving animals from getting hurt, but it did strike me as a bit ironic that the road crew was out specially for a week of bulls and horses passing to and fro, while our little cul-de-sac has been a mass of potholes since we arrived here over three years ago!
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