The Pailhasses

This festival has its origins in the 14th century, when villagers from Cournonterral in Hérault tried to chop down the holm-oaks in the communal and manorial forests bordering the nearby village of Aumelas.

The residents of Aumelas regarded the holm-oak as their sole source of income, and developed a hatred for their neighbours.

One day, when a party from Cournonterral went into the forest to fell trees, the Aumelassians greeted them with a hail of arrows, leaving several of them wounded. On hearing of this skirmish, the lord of the manor ordered his bailiff, Pailhas, to put an end to the dispute.

Since then, the name ‘Pailhas' gets an outing every Ash Wednesday in a mock battle to commemorate the rivalry. A team called the 'Pailhasses' represent the Cournonterral faction, and the 'Blancs' play the people of Aumelas.

Early in the morning, vats of sticky, evil-smelling wine-dregs are lined up in the centre of Cournonterral village. In the early afternoon, 'Pailhasses' and 'Blancs' meet up and form a procession through the village. Then a drum roll announces the start of hostilities. The spectators turn tail and the Blancs try to flee through the streets.

At that point, the older villagers tip some of the wine-dregs onto the ground. With wild cries, the Pailhasses fling themselves into the puddles and plunge into the still-full tubs before setting out in hot pursuit of the Blancs.