From 9 May to 5 July, the Occitanie Region operates the 21e edition of Total Festum, its major festival dedicated to Occitan and Catalan languages and cultures. More than a hundred popular events will cover the entire regional territory: concerts, shows, stories, workshops, exhibitions, walks and even intergenerational meetings. A program designed to remind us that Occitan and Catalan remain living languages, anchored in the daily lives of many residents.
« CEvery year with Total Festum, Occitanie celebrates all its wealth, diversity and traditions », the Region emphasizes in a statement. The president of Region, Carole Delga, insists on the popular dimension of the event: « Our languages and cultures are not vestiges of the past, but carry within them our identities and our singularity. »
The festival is part of a broader policy of supporting orality and cultural transmission. For almost two months, municipalities, associations and artists will offer meetings intended for all audiences. Among the highlights announced is an Occitan language marathon organized on June 13 in Brousses-et-Villaret, with fifteen uninterrupted hours of words and songs.
A long-term regional policy
The official launch of this edition took place on May 21 at Hôtel de Région in Toulouse. Four hundred bilingual Occitan students from Haute-Garonne schools are expected there for a day dedicated to dance and music, in the presence of the Pique Poque trio.
This year, the festival poster was entrusted to the Sète duo Les Crafties. The Region specifies that the artists wanted to represent “silhouettes in movement” translating “the joy of finding oneself to the rhythm of the music”, with “a sunny and warm palette” reflecting the festive spirit of Total Festum.
Beyond the festival, the community is continuing its “Parlem una cultura viva” plan, launched in 2023 to promote regional languages. Bilingual signage, development of Occitan and Catalan sections at school, digital educational tools or support for cultural structures: depending on the Region, “more than 93% of planned measures » are already committed or achieved. A way to sustainably place these languages in the public space and to raise awareness among future generations.
