“It’s moving to see happy people…”: a colorful stroll takes the people of Alès back to the Middle Ages

The big parade set off to conquer the streets of Alès at 4 p.m. MIDI LIBRE – ALEXIS BETHUNE

The big parade set off to conquer the streets of Alès at 4 p.m. MIDI LIBRE – ALEXIS BETHUNE

The big parade set off to conquer the streets of Alès at 4 p.m. MIDI LIBRE – ALEXIS BETHUNE

The big parade set off to conquer the streets of Alès at 4 p.m. MIDI LIBRE – ALEXIS BETHUNE

The big parade set off to conquer the streets of Alès at 4 p.m. MIDI LIBRE – ALEXIS BETHUNE

Le grand défilé est parti à la conquête des rues d’Alès à 16 heures. MIDI LIBRE – ALEXIS BETHUNE

The driving forces of the Semaine cévenole, the medieval festival of Alès, walked the streets in the middle of the afternoon of this Saturday, October 5.

From the first stroll of the day, Laurence Magnanelli, the costume designer of the Théâtre de L'Atanga, which provides the 450 or so costumes for the Semaine cévenole, is smiling: “There are more people in costume parading in the streets than in other years. People are playing the game. It's touching to see people happy…"

"It's great!", says Sophie, who parades in her costume

In the middle of the afternoon of October 5, the “big”” parade leaves from the Pont-Vieux to walk through the hyper-center of Alès and end at the town hall. And the costume designer is not letting go: “There are more people.” In the procession, she even finds Sophie, who arrived with her little family in Saint-Christol-lez-Alès a few months ago and came to pick up three outfits on Monday morning. The thirty-year-old walks alongside her husband Jean-Philippe and Victor, her 10-year-old son: “It's really strange. We feel like we're from the Cévennes. It's great!” “She chose my costume well”, smiles her husband.

320 raïole sheep take part in the parade

The procession is dense, led, this time, by the Bandura group from Maillave. In addition to the general public, all the participants in the event march: crusader knights, troops, Amazons, fire-eaters, etc. Even sheep are part of it! They close the parade and attract many glances, sometimes raising questions from the public. “There are 320 of them”, explains Dimitri Servière, a Nîmes breeder who is participating in the Semaine Cévenole for the fourth time and is helped by another farmer, Frédéric Héret, from Aubord. “These are raïoles (a suckler breed from Languedoc-Roussillon, editor's note). There are 3,500 of them in the world.”

The strolling over, the participants return to their posts: at the entertainment stands in the Bosquet garden, at the arena where medieval battles take place, in the enclosure of Fort Vauban. And yes, the party continues…