Old-fashioned day: Mauguio vibrated to the rhythm of its traditions

Les taureaux traversent la Cadoule avec les manadiers. D.R.

Les calèches ont transporté les costumés jusqu’au Mas des Pauvres. Emma Stinellis – E.S.

Les festivités se poursuivent à l’occasion de la fête votive. Ce lundi 12 août, les Melgoriens ont célébré leur traditionnelle "journée à l’ancienne" entre déjeuner au pré, ferrade et gaze des taureaux.

“The old-fashioned day is the most revealing of the meaning that the festival can have in Mauguio”, smiled Yvon Bourrel, the mayor of Mauguio. This Monday, August 12, was the occasion for the inhabitants to put on their traditional outfits, take out their old cars, their carriages or their bicycles, to celebrate the old-fashioned day, organized by the City. For these eight days of votive festival, the program is busy but the Melgoriens would not miss their village festival for anything in the world and especially this one where hundreds of people were gathered. The women were dressed in white outfits with a straw hat while the men wore their gardian shirts and a beret for some. The women had not forgotten to pick bouquets of saladella, the lucky flowers of the herdsmen, which they hung on their hats or carried in a small wicker basket. The children were not left out and also took part in the celebration, still in traditional dress. An “intergenerational day” in short, the mayor agrees.

White was the predominant color. Emma Stinellis – E.S.

The day of traditions

The day began at 9am, in the city center, where the first carriages arrived in front of the bar Le Mistral. The costumed riders mounted up, ready to take part in the parade, to meet up a few dozen minutes later at the Mas des Pauvres. On site, the festivities had already started slightly with lunch in the meadow, waiting to continue once everyone had arrived. Families or friends gathered under the loupiau (a shelter), to share a snack or a grill. Others had taken out their own arsenal to take shelter. Carriages, horses, processions and herdsmen were expected to officially launch the day in the old-fashioned way. “It is one of the strong identities of the city, deeply rooted in the collective unconscious of Melgorians. We strive to bring it to life with traditional codes. People are sensitive to this moment of communion around one and the same tradition”, says Patricia Moullin-Traffort, deputy delegate for culture, traditions and heritage.

The wolf cub sheltering the lunch in the meadow. Emma Stinellis – E.S.

The manadiers participated in the gauze

Under a blazing sun, the heat did not shake the manadiers, ready to take part in the celebration: “The old-fashioned day is a big day and it is important to maintain all these traditions. First of all for the town, the inhabitants and us, the manadiers, especially at a time when everything is being lost”, explains Vincent Rouquette, manadier at the Rouquette manade. The old-fashioned day is exported to the very environment where the bulls and horses live, at Mas des Pauvres, like an intercommunal crossroads between Candillargues, Mauguio and Mudaison, like a meeting place for the bullfighting world, according to the mayor of the commune. "It’is a day when everyone embodies our traditions. We are not in something new but in the expression of our identity", concludes Yvon Bourrel. The festivities continued with the ferrade and the gauze of the bulls, around 1 p.m., where the horned beasts crossed the Cadoule, surrounded by the herdsmen on horseback to reach the other bank . The party continues until Sunday August 18.

Bull gauze. D.R.

The program for Tuesday, August 13

“Everyone in disguise this Tuesday”

10 a.m. Arenas, inter-gang games hosted by the Los Caballeros peñon.
12 p.m. Abrivado with 7 bulls (Lafon manade). Departure from the Cabanes road.
1 p.m. Place de la Libération, mini encierro (Lafon manade) offered by the CT Le Melgueil.
1:30 p.m. Place de la Libération – Café du Midi – Chez Mamita – Samy El A. & Geoffrey Rancounaïre.
2 p.m. Camus school courtyard, youth meal reserved for gang members.
3 p.m. Boulodrome, Fanny Pétanque, federal competition in mixed doubles.
5:30 p.m. Arenas, As trophy, 7 manades competition, 22nd Manu and José Souvenir. CT Le Melgueil (rates: 14 euros/12 euros/6 euros). Two bandido after the race (Lafon manade).
7:30 p.m. Place de la Libération and Bar Le Petit Camarguais, dancing entertainment
9:30 p.m. Encierro, Place de la Libération (Lafon manade)
10 p.m. Arenas, Toro Piscine. CT Le Melgueil (5&euro/3&euro) and at the bar Le Petit Camarguais, retro dance.
10:30 p.m. Place de la Libération, DJ One.