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Defilé Enfants Cavalcade Lascours Folklore Provence Oti Aubagne
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JPVallorani

Cavalcades Provençales

In Provence, summer is punctuated by the Provençal cavalcades, held every Sunday in a different town or village. The cavalcade, the centrepiece of the Saint-Eloi festivities, is a magnificent parade of floats and mounted horses, to the sound of fifes and tambourines!

The cavalcade

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Chars Cavalcade Folklore Beaudinard Aubagne Oti Aubagne
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JPVallorani

The cavalcade is the high point of a week of festivities and traditions linked to horses.
It’s an opportunity to pay tribute to our ancestors, people of the land, when the horse was their work tool, their means of transport, their companion and their faithful friend.

To mark the occasion, richly harnessed horses, a host of decorated carts and wagons depicting scenes from everyday Provençal life, fifes and drums, galoubets and tambourines, and participants wearing their finest Provençal costumes, will parade through the village, dressed in a thousand flowers in the blood-and-gold colours of our beautiful Provence.

From traditions to sharing

A family story

The cavalcades are first and foremost a family and village affair, but they’re also a time-honoured tradition. For a few hours, young and old alike can marvel at the equestrian and musical parade, where the tumult of floats, riders and the hooves of their mounts are covered by the laughter and applause of the audience.

The Saint Éloi

Afarmers’ festival celebrated between the harvest and the grape harvest, where each village and hamlet in the Garlaban area plays out a friendly competition. They take it in turns to organise balls, concerts, aubades and banquets during the summer season.

Above all, it’s a tradition that celebrates Saint Éloi, the patron saint of goldsmiths, blacksmiths, blacksmiths and cartwrights.

In Provence, Saint Éloi honours the village, the workers of the land and their animals, because Saint Éloi was a great protector of horses. And so, as the high point of a week’s festivities, mules, comtois, percherons and other horses that work all year round are brought to the fore and paraded in their finest finery during the cavalcade.

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traditions in aubagne