Tournay. A festive passage of the relay race for Occitan culture

On this occasion, the festival committee of Bernadets-Dessus, a small village located on the route, wanted to mark the event by organizing an evening dedicated to our Gascon culture.

It all started at the end of the afternoon with an entertainment of traditional dances, hosted by “Lous Amics deu Rondèu”.

Then the festivities continued at the village church, with a concert featuring the local groups “Sorinas”, “Eths Sarriats” and “Parpalhon”: young women, young men, the others barely older.

But three Bigourdan groups carried by the same love of polyphonic singing, in all its variety and diversity: traditional songs or creations, a cappella or musically accompanied with a zest of humor to delight a large audience.

A vibrant “Sobirana” and a “Se Canti” repeated in chorus ended the concert part before everyone met in the village hall to share a piece of sausage, a few drinks and a few songs of course!

As the time neared the end of the race, everyone waited impatiently for the runners.

The moon pierced the clouds which had become lighter when the headlights and the music of the Passem van invaded the Padoen. Each runner, his bib and his kilometer, teachers, farmers, singers, dancers… there were a good dozen of them setting off to run in the heart of the night, taking turns passing the Ligam, this symbolic link of the transmission of our language and our culture. “Pitchon patchon La Passem! Anem! All the time!’

As Sylvain testified: “An incredible, almost unreal experience to discover all these people in the middle of the night coming to run, encourage, follow by bike in such a euphoric momentum… to put it bluntly, this commitment had a moving side!”

Ua lenga tea everyone! Let’s run the Passem!