Carnival of Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans

The Carnival of Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans: A Millennial Catalan Tradition

Nestled in the Haut-Vallespir, on the Spanish border, Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans perpetuates one of the oldest Catalan traditions every winter: the Carnival and the Bear Festival. This celebration, shared with the neighboring villages of Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste and Arles-sur-Tech, has been inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2022.

The Bear Festival

The highlight of the carnival is the bear hunt, an ancestral rite that symbolizes the end of winter and the return of spring. Men covered in soot and animal fat embody the bears that descend from the mountains to abduct young women from the village. The hunters, accompanied by the crowd, track the bears through the streets until their capture. The bear is then shaved and "civilized," marking the transition from winter to spring.

Festival Program

The carnival spans several days with:

• Masked and costume balls in the village hall
• Carnival meals bringing the whole village together
• Parades of floats, giants (gegants), and big heads (capgrossos)
• Sardanes and Catalan music in the village square
• The Bear Festival on Sunday, with the traditional hunt

A Village of Traditions

Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans is also renowned for its artisanal production of Catalan espadrilles and Canigou fabrics, perpetuating ancestral textile know-how. The carnival is thus an opportunity to discover an authentic village, a guardian of Pyrenean traditions.