Hestiv'oc

We interrupt our regular program of weekend trips to bring you the Hestiv'oc.

**Spelling is not guaranteed to be correct**

Hestiv'oc means the Occitane Festival where hestiv comes from the local dialect meaning festival and Oc (Occitane) is the region in France south of Clermont Ferrand. Yesterday was the first day of the festival which will end on Aug 24.

When I arrived at the Place Royale at around 7:30 PM, the place was packed. There was some guy telling a joke which I didn't catch anything about except that it was about the Olympics.

I moved off from the side so I could find a place which had a better view and less crowded. By the time I did that, he was done and the next part of the program began: a choir. It was a choir of older people and soon after the audience joined in. At around the second song, I left to wander around the area. It was quite different from what it used to be. Where there used to be just an open area surrounded by trees, there are now booths set up by restaurants around the city. Along the blvd, there were also booths selling books, ice cream, instruments. It was a lot more lively than usually and definitely more than I expected when I decided to go by there.

This was the first time in France that I have seen people wear barrets. Not just one either, but a lot. Other noticable things that people were wearing are: white tops, black pants, handkerchief thing around the neck indicating the event (it was bright yellow).

Passing by, at least one of the booths were selling cups, those handkerchief things, caps, and t-shirt for the event. What is so special about this? You buy the cup and use it to get your drink from the various vendors. At the end of the night, you can return them for your money back. I thought this was very environmentally friendly as well as economical.