Time to Celebrate

This week’s Lens-Artists Challenge, set by Donna, asks us to look at Time. So … I’ve decided to focus on traditions: traditions about celebration – long enjoyed, long maintained, and still meaningful in the communities where they take place.

Transhumance for instance.  It’s that time of year when in the Pyrénées (and in other mountain regions too), near where we lived in France, the cattle and sheep are moved from the lush summer pastures in the mountains down to their winter quarters down on their lowland(ish) farms .  They stay there till spring, and then they’re taken up again.  And each time, it’s the excuse for a party. Here are some scenes from Seix a few years ago, of the upward part of the year.

Patriotic cows are led to town
Cattle trudge patiently down the road …
Sheep come too
It seems strange to ride a plaster pony when there are so many real ones around
Dancing – always dancing
More dancers
Traditional clogs
Shepherds from the Landes on their traditional look-outs – their stilts.
Traditional géants

They were dancing in Seix. We dance to celebrate wherever we live – always have. Here are Morris Dancers in England, traditional dancers in Catalonia (and more of them in the featured photo) and dancing for the big Harvest celebration of Chuseok in South Korea.

What next? How about Shrove Tuesday, the day when it’s the last excuse to have a bit of fun before the privations of Lent? The day when eggs and butter and other indulgences get used up in the making of pancakes, some of which end up in a race. Participants run the course, pan in hand, tossing their pancakes as they run towards the finishing line. It’s part of every Shrove Tuesday, as it has been for hundreds of years here in Ripon, and in towns and villages throughout the land.

Restaurant and café cooks take time out and celebrate a race well-won.
Schools vie with each other for the prize.

Street entertainers have engaged out attention as long as there have been streets. Jugglers, Punch and Judy shows … anything goes.

Juggler in Ripon
Punch … but no Judy.

Anyway, let’s finish off with a dance, the Sardana, dear to Catalonians for … well, centuries. It’s easy enough – join in the circle and just copy the person opposite you. Come on – you don’t even need a partner!

Friends and strangers enjoy the Sardana in a Catalan square.

Author: margaret21

I'm retired and live in North Yorkshire, where I walk , write, volunteer and travel as often as I can.

61 thoughts on “Time to Celebrate”

      5. A net is far more effective. The aim is to drink the bottles and thread the corks on your hat as you go. So you have to forego stubbies for while and drink plonk until you get an effective fly screen

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  15. Such a fun approach to the challenge Margaret! How nice to see so many happy people enjoying life. Festivals, I think, bring out the best in us. They give us reasons to smile and most importantly help us to let down our defenses and enjoy the company of strangers. Well done!

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  16. What a fantastic way to interpret time. Traditions and celebrations!!! I love the colorful dresses, and the smiling faces. Everyone loves. good reason to dance. And your last photo is so reflective of your culture. Just come as you, you will be fine and fit right in. Excellent photos Margaret. Happy post, and the most interesting photo to me was the clogs. Thank you for this. I enjoyed 4 years of my life in Spain, and we loved that the people just loved to love life!

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    1. Ah, four years in Spain! We spend time there too as my daughter lives and works there, with a Spanish partner and their daughter. Not a bad place to live at all. Thanks for your lovely comments on my post.

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  19. An amazing collection of photos and celebration from many places. And dance! Strange coincidence today we go to a ceilidh to celebrate a friend’s 60 th. Have not been to a dance for many years now! But my parents and friends met dancing and danced at least every Christmas and New Year. Glad you can show so much trad fun.

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