As part of the Total Festum 2026, the Occitan center of the Castres region is offering several events.
Starting with the Jornada Occitana this Sunday June 21 with cantera and music, children’s show and ball.
At 4:30 p.m., singing concert by Cant’Azalais at the temple (2 Rue du Consulat in Castres). Cant’Azalais is the vocal workshop of the Occitan center, directed by Laurence Loufrani, teacher at the Tarn Conservatory of Music and Dance. The repertoire, in Occitan, draws both on traditional singing, often revisited, and on contemporary compositions, but always of traditional inspiration. The pleasure of singing and that of making the Lenga nòstra sound carries this group and the opportunity to sing during a concert is accompanied, for Cant’Azalais, by the joy of sharing them.
At 5:30 p.m., fuòc, bilingual show for children told and sung with Anne-Caroline Garcia-Cros, at the Temple. Anne-Caroline Garcia-Cros works for IEO Tarn. She is an actress and leads a theater workshop in Occitan. Building bridges between cultures: that’s his point. “Raising awareness, from a young age, that differences are an asset and that beyond appearances, many cultural practices bring us together. Because men have traveled, crossed the seas, mixed their customs and their heritage, generating new cultural resources” she explains.
Fuòc, which means Midsummer Night, is a journey on both sides of the Pyrenees which takes the public into the world of this calendar festival and its pagan origins linked to the summer solstice to celebrate the shortest night of the year. The fire, to finally let winter go, to frighten and drive away the beings who haunt the nights, the evil spirits but also to protect the crops. A night to pay homage to the cycles of nature, to cold and heat, to fire and water, to the sun and the moon, to the masculine and the feminine.
A night populated by fantastic beings where we celebrate life! This theatrical and musical show is in four languages (Occitan, Catalan, Castilian, French).
From 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., concert/ball with collective and family dances with the Bourry-Rouch duò, on Place Pierrre-Fabre. The Bourry-Rouch duò offers a traditional ball focused on the dances and music of the central Pyrenees. For the uninitiated, some explanations are possible. There are also the dances of Landes, Auvergne, Limousin, Centre, Béarn, Basque Country and Catalonia: in cadence!
These two musicians offer a musical journey through the Pyrenees, from the Basque Country to Catalonia, discovering traditional instruments.
St. John’s Day and carillon
On the occasion of Saint-Jean, a great Occitan festival very appreciated by the people of Castres will take place on Tuesday June 23 in the evening from 6 p.m. It will revolve around the campanary tradition of the carillon of Notre-Dame-de-la-Platé, traditional instruments, music, dances and songs from our region with the association Vie du Carillon en Pays Tarnais and Los Bufarèls. Thus, the craba, a large bagpipe from the Montagne Noire, and the graile, an oboe from the Monts de Lacaune and Sidobre, will be in the spotlight during the producers’ market on Place Pierre-Fabre. Finally, the bonfire will take place at nightfall and will be followed by a traditional ball with Pometas.
Also note that Jean-Pierre Carme and the carillonneur students will ring the 36 bells of the carillon of the Notre-Dame-de-la-Platé church every evening at 6 p.m. from June 21 to 24. These Campano-Occitan events are exclusive to the city of Castres and you won’t find them anywhere else!
