Le fete de Saint Marcel

the pictures say it all.

this is literally the craziest festival i have ever been to. Every year, all the people of the town dress up in these traditional Provencal clothing and parade around town. They dance, sing, jump, shoot muzzle loaders, and carry the bust of Saint Marcel down all the streets of the town. And every 4 years they slaughter a cow and parade it around town as well. This was my lucky year. So you are probably wandering just as much as i was, What is the point of this celebration? well the the story is pretty hazy at best. but i will try and tell it.

A few hundred years ago... when all the plagues and pests were hitting Europe pretty hard and killing a lot of people, there was one man who found the answer. This was a man who was walking down the road one day and saw a vision of Saint Marcel. The saint told him that if the people of his village ate the Tripe (cow intestines and stomach lining. gross, and previously always discarded as trash) then they would be safe. So the man told this to the village of Barjols and believe it or not the town prospered and was spared from the coming plague. Crazy. I know.

Well. we went, we saw, we jumped, we sang, we did not eat tripe, and we left. It was awesome. Definitely the kinda thing that tourists never hear about. I am glad to not be a tourist. I live here, and thus i sometimes here about these crazy events. I hope to find a couple more before i leave.