Events with Couserans DNA

Whether it is the time of men or the time of nature, cycles pass and renew themselves. Sometimes we exhaust ourselves chasing time, and we are happy to rest in our traditions, simply.

The « The authenticity » is a value dear to all the slogans of “green tourism”: yet no one really knows how to describe it. The best thing is to give you a few examples of what we believe to be important in the DNA of this corner of the mountain: the Autrefois le Couserans festival, the RITE festival ou Transhumance bind generations in a common past; the spring fairs push us... to grow! Green, hope, the future. Attachment to the land for some, a return to the land for others, it doesn't matter.

And if authenticity, ultimately, was simply the return to nature and to humanity ?

We're all ready to take you on board! Saint-Girons market is a very beautiful first initiatory journey, to begin your quest for Couseran identity.

The Saint Girons Market

"A Saturday morning on Earth”! It is sometimes a difficult challenge, in our mountains as elsewhere, to accept our differences, to communicate, to exchange, to share. However, the place and the moment that crystallizes all “the Couserans”, it's the Saint-Girons market. We observe all the benefits of cultural mix which has been operating in Ariège for decades. traditions Local communities are very much alive and, despite what some people say, they are also nourished by the successive arrivals of new residents. Among these, many have a attachment to the earth in the first sense. And this one gives it back to them!

So come on stroll through the colorful alleys, smell the aromas of spices or grilled food, taste a cheese, a meat, a charcuterie or a mountain honey – and just after eat a Vietnamese spring roll or a Lebanese sandwich – buy your organic but above all local vegetables or berries, treat yourself with a piece of jewelry or a “handmade” soap, bring back an aloe vera for your home and so many other purchases to support a very real economy. 

Formerly the Couserans

Formerly the Couserans gives you an appointment every year for the first weekend of August.

A new theme every year!

It will all start with a traditional dance brought up to date in Place de Verdun.
On Friday and Saturday evenings, a fireworks fired from the Viscounts' Palace. All the traditional entertainment of these days will be repeated with a new organization for the safety and enjoyment of all visitors.
The with animals will also be part of the celebration with the organization of the departmental competition for the Gascon cow and the national competition for the Castillonnais horse and 2 high-level equestrian shows.
The vintage cars will also be present and will parade through the streets of Saint Girons.
Le craft market, gourmet market, garage sale, the children's games, Various exhibitions will be there during these festivities.
The now famous Sunday morning parade The event will be themed around water and will bring you plenty of surprises and innovations thanks to the creativity of all our volunteers. To discover them, all you have to do is come along the route and applaud all our volunteers.
Badges will be on sale along the route and at the ALC stand where berets, aprons, t-shirts, lemonade holders and other trinkets will make excellent gifts for your loved ones and family.
Ariège cartophiles are preparing a exhibition on means of transport in Couserans without forgetting dictation and the class of 1900.
Le photo contest awaits amateur photographers like every year.

Sunday Morning Grand Parade! Oxen, horses, donkeys, mules pull the teams of wood, hay, wheat followed by the procession of sheep, goats, geese, ducks.
Here are the washerwomen, the seamstresses, the goose girls, the milkman, the postman, the knife grinder, the bread seller, the water carriers, the market women, the class of 1900 and the priest...

If the nostalgia here has the taste ofchildhood past in the countryside in the company of his grandparents during the summer holidays, it also carries meaning for understanding the present and anticipating the future.

RITE Festival

In 2023, RITE Festival promises to be colorful! Created in 1991, a magnificent festival of dances, songs and music of the world awaits you! The RITE is above all a place of fraternization between people, a great surge of friendship and joy which allows the public to enter into an event as an actor if they have the will.

The RITE festival program will feature performances from Indonesia, Peru, Uganda, Croatia, Portugal, Georgia, and Cuba with the "Compay Segundo" orchestra.
Occitania will of course be very present with the Bethmalais – RITE organizers.

Spring Fairs

It is when several thousandMigrator birds harbingers of spring fly over the Pyrenees in a spectacular aerial ballet where birds of prey and passerines mingle, which one might say are the spring fairs will begin to enliven our valleys… Whatever name they give themselves, they are an opportunity to exchange and/or sell plants and seedlings to prepare your garden for the year.

It's the last day of the Ice Saints ! From now on, the kingdom of the southern land, which the sun caresses with the tips of its rays, belongs to flowers and plants. They will colonize planters, flowerbeds, fronts of houses, borders and pottery, everything suits them as long as they are together. 

Here, the " Marigolds " and the " Nasturtiums » notice the presence of the charming « Violette » who traveled specially from Toulouse. Further on, the « Dimorphetica "discreetly greets the beauty" Scaevola ". In turn, the opulent " perennial geraniums » parley with the amiable « Dipladinia ».  

That's not all! Shy but invasive, the fragrant plants of St. John's Day, elderberry, Wort et Clematis are there. Nationally known for their medicinal virtues, once proclaimed by monks, apothecaries and our grandmothers, they are now proven by pharmacologists. 

And finally, the gardener-cooks' favorites: the large family of vegetable plantsOrganically grown tomatoes, leeks and salads will parade side by side in a whirlwind of colors. 

Finally, here is our specialist friend, the Big Brown Bumblebee, which takes flight noisily and loses itself in the golden constellation that it draws on the green firmament of rhododendrons. Scent of bitter honey, strange mixture of sugar and chlorophyll, it seems to understand each species of this botanical procession. 

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Agenda

The Saint-Girons market