Fete de St Blaise: The Flowers

The parade does two turns round the village and on the second one the participants get really serious about throwing the flowers into the crowd and there's a kind of an ungainly scramble for blooms. Some people even bring baskets to collect as much as possible and the pavements and roads are covered with mimosa blossom and confetti. It's really very pretty.

Whoops! I've just realised it's Valentine's Day...I should have found something red or heart shaped. It just shows how much romance there is in my soul..

Fete de St Blaise: The Flower Child

Out of all the photos I took at the parade this was my favourite...just something about the child's expression. She's, or maybe he's, definitely not sure if dressing up in hippy gear and throwing flowers at strangers is all it's cracked up to be.

Fete de St Blaise: The People.

By the time I'd got myself organised all the best places were taken and I found myself with the mid afternoon sun right in my eyes. It was impossible to catch a photo of the parade but this guy, a stranger, was standing up on the wall right next to me and he and his small companion were having such a great time throwing confetti, I caught them on camera instead.

Fete de St Blaise: The Floats

The carnival floats are a delight to see as they trundle up the road pulled along by tractors. Each is decorated with bundles of flowers mainly mimosa and carnations arranged according to some theme. I noticed a Moulin Rouge, an Eiffel Tour and a Lion King float. There were hippies and cheerleaders and marching bands.
The parade does two turns round the village while the occupants throw flowers at the crowd...

More tomorrow...

Fete de St Blaise

du raisin et des produits du terroir...which is a mouthful by any one's standards. Basically this is a local festival called after St Blaise, the saint after whom the church is named, and the idea is to celebrate local produce which included grapes, the variety the Servan.

This is the square all dressed up for the party with mimosa and carnations, which is where I started. It's also the place that is the most crowded when the carnival floats come through so I didn't linger long, just long enough to greet some friends and then I headed out to the main road to find a place to watch the parade..
Tomorrow we'll take a look at some of the floats..