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Archive for March, 2010

La Fete de LOurs (The Festival of the Bear)

March 15th, 2010 |

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2 La Fete de LOurs (The Festival of the Bear) For centuries in the Pyrenees, bears roamed wild around the hills surrounding the village of Prats-de-Mollo-La-Preste. La Fete de LOurs (The Festival of the Bear) is an annual and ancient tradition which celebrates mans relationship with the bear.

It’s the re-enactment of a local bear legend: Back in the middle ages, bears weren’t just a threat to shepherds and their flocks, but were thought to be the devil incarnate.
The legend connected to the festival goes that one day a lonely bear, anxious for a bit of female company to see him through the cold Pyranean nights, abducted a young local shepherdess, and kept her prisoner in his cave, keen to steal her soul, and no doubt her virgnity too. A rescue party was sent out to find the beauty, and after a long search they finally found her safe and sound, if terrified. But the beast wasn’t keen to let go of his treasure, and put up a terrific fight, killing many of the party before eventually being subdued and brought back to the town in chains. A great festival ensued, and the bear was shaved with an axe, and tamed, and in due course became something of a local handyman, doing odd jobs around the town!

In celebration, the Fete de l’Ours features three young men from Prats de Mollo dressing up as black bears in the Lagarde Fort, overlooking the town. The bears have sheepskins sewn on to their clothes and then smear their hands and faces with soot and soil, so as to able to blacken anyone who comes in their way, usually the local girls and womenfolk.

After three hours of mayhem, the bears are caught by the barbers, all clad in white, and ceremoniously sheared of their sheepskins in the main square.

Duration : 0:3:44

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