Mascarades Souletines

An ancestral carnival rite

The Mascarades Souletines are an itinerant carnival rite specific to Soule (Zuberoa in Basque), the smallest of the French Basque Country provinces. Like other winter festivals in Europe, they draw their motifs from ancient carnivals, festivals of fools, and wedding rites. Each year, a village in Soule mobilizes to organize the masquerade season, forming a troupe that travels through the valley from village to village for several months.

The Reds and the Blacks

The troupe, composed of about forty actors, musicians, singers, and dancers, is divided into two opposing groups that embody order and chaos, the known and the foreign:

The Reds (Gorriak) are silent characters, skilled dancers dressed in refined costumes of bright colors evoking Napoleonic soldiers. They represent Souletine society, order, and merit. Their highly virtuosic dances combine local traditions with the influence of 18th-century military dance masters, a legacy of the Napoleonic armies.

The Blacks (Beltzak) are noisy and wild, dressed in rags or skins. They represent strangers, nomads, and chaos. Among them, the central character of Pitxu adds a comic and satirical touch, parodying the flaws of society with a freedom of speech characteristic of carnival.

Dance, the heart of the masquerades

Dance dominates the Souletine masquerades and is their most spectacular element. Souletine dance combines local pastoral traditions with the influence of the Napoleonic army's military dance masters in the 18th century. The Reds perform dances of remarkable precision and elegance, while the Blacks offer burlesque and disorderly counterpoints. The repertoire includes character dances, spectacular leaps, and acrobatic figures passed down from generation to generation.

An itinerant ritual

The masquerades take place every weekend from mid-January to Easter Sunday. The troupe travels from village to village, receiving hospitality from each community visited. Upon arrival in a village, the dancers encounter a symbolic barricade that they must overcome through dance and negotiation. This welcoming ritual, followed by the full performance in the village square, is a moment of communion between the troupe's youth and the host community.

The 2025-2026 season from Mauléon

For the 2025-2026 season, the youth of Mauléon-Licharre (Maule), the capital of Soule, are organizing the masquerades. The troupe of the Mauletar (inhabitants of Mauléon) will offer about fifteen performances from January to April, with the last performance traditionally held in the organizing village. Performance dates will be announced from December by the Tardets Tourist Office and Basque cultural networks.