Ferias de la Madeleine

third week of July

“5 days and 6 days late to meet, reunite, record, escape our common life, reaffirm our common values, magnify our Gascon culture.

La Madeleine is a popular and familiar party in the noblest sentiment, which we transmit is an emotion and which every year we can learn our collection of recuerdos, anecdotes, encounters and reencuentros.

Madeleine, “¡Ella es todo eso!”*

An authentic and green fair.

Our Madeleine is not the most publicized fair, but it is true, in opinion of all, the most authentic for its bullfighting and maintenance program.”

The Magdalena festivities are a time of collective rejoicing. They are organized every year in July by the Municipal Authority of Festivals and Shows on behalf of the city of Mont-de-Marsan.

Mixing popular celebrations with Spanish and Landes bullfighting shows, Gascon identity and Spanish borrowings, these days of joy literally transform the face of the city, which in the space of a week becomes the scene of multiple musical, folklore or sports events. The streets are invaded by compact crowds of locals and visitors, with attendance peaking on weekend nights.

Unlike other fairs 1 in the southwest of France, such as the Bayonne festivities or the Dax festivities, where white costumes accented with red dominate, taken from the San Fermín festivities in Pamplona, the festivities of the Madeleine are placed under the colors of the Mont-Marsan coat of arms, blue and white.

As a preamble, the statue of Saint Mary Magdalene is carried in procession from the Madeleine church to the chapel of the sands of Plumaçon. But it is the ceremony of handing over the keys by the mayor to the young people of the city, on Wednesday afternoon, on the steps of the Mont-de-Marsan town hall, in the Place du Général-Leclerc, that officially marks the start of the holidays. . The night before, on the sands of Plumaçon, the Madeleine’s first show had already been held: the traditional Course Landaise.

During the five days that they last, the festivities take place mainly in the street, around the warehouses of associations (sports clubs, firefighters, nurses, etc.) where the fetayres (or hestayres, in a local variant), young people gather and old. People are invited to gather around a meal or drink offered at reduced prices. Musical entertainment is provided by bands playing popular tunes from the Southwest or elsewhere. The city receives an average, according to estimates, of 650,000 to 750,000 people during the entire festival.

Each year, the celebrations revolve around different highlights, such as:

the parade and its parade of floats prepared by the different neighborhoods and associations of the city and some municipalities of the Mont-de-Marsan agglomeration that parade on Wednesday afternoon and Sunday morning, without forgetting the traditional Landes stilts and the release of pigeons on Sunday morning. .
the numerous dances, organized in the four corners of the city
shows and sporting events
children’s entertainment
the amusement park
cultural exhibitions
bullfights
the Landes competition
the fireworks closing the festivities