Festivals

Throughout the whole year, traditional dances, religious fêtes, exhibitions, festivals, artisan fayres and concerts take place across the region.

The Feria de Beziers, which takes place from 11th to 15th August every year., is unmissable.
It is the biggest festival in the south of France and attracts in excess of one million visitors each year..
Attractions include concerts, folk dances, street music, equestrian shows and a fantastic procession of floats in the town centre. whilst at Les Arenes, a blullfight ensues.
For 5 days, the streets, squares, gardens and courtyards are full of people enjoying themselves with music, entertainment and endless tables of food.

Sète is famous for water jousting, les joutes languedociennes, which is an important component of the local heritage, and take place in the Canal Royal from April to September.
In Sète there is a jousting school for children and a museum of the history of water jousting in the Languedoc. Water jousting was traditionnally a fishers and dockers' sport but every good (male) citizen of Sète must have climbed on the tintaine at least once in his life. Those who dared do it say that it is something extremely impressive.

In mid October, there are numerous wine festivals across the entire region to celebrate the new season's wine.  The Fête de Vendanges, a festival to celbrate wine and local crafts, is a wonderful weekend of festivities, parades, carftsmen and craftswomen plying their trades, wines, folklore and music, in the village of Ouveillan, about 15km from Narbonne and a similar distance from Beziers.

The importance of excellent cuisine in this region is emphasized by large festivals dedicated to celebrating local delicacies and specialities.  In Castelnaudry, to the west of Carcassonne, a 4-day long festival is held every year to honour the local dish, cassoulet.  Over a hundred thousand people descend on the town to enjoy music, singing, dancing, games, food markets and of course extensive eating of the celebrated dish "cassoulet".