Holidays & Festivals
France:
Holidays:
Holidays in France are known as jours fériés. Shops and banks are closed, as well as many (but not all) restaurants and museums. Major holidays include January 1 (New Year's Day), Easter, Ascension Day (40 days after Easter), Pentecost (seventh Sun after Easter), May 1 (May Day), May 8 (VE Day), July 14 (Bastille Day), August 15 (Assumption of the Virgin Mary), November 1 (All Saints' Day), November 11 (Armistice Day), and December 25 (Christmas).
Paris Festivals:
From Christmas, Chopin and cinema to raï music, somewhere in Paris something is almost always being celebrated. Cultural festivals in the city are especially good and often give an opportunity to experience an enormous range of Parisian, French and international music or cinema, sometimes for free.
Rouen Festivals:
Joan of Arc Festival: Clearly Joan of Arc is an important part of Rouen history, so it is only natural that they would hold a festival in her honor. It is a two day event, held the last weekend and May and the downtown Center of Rouen is turned into a total Medieval town, complete with all sorts of entertainment and food.
Nordic Film Festival: This festival, usually held at the end of march, is devoted to showing previously unreleased French films.
Christmas Market: In November and December Rouen, like many other European cities, holds a Christmas market around the Cathedral.
St. Malo Festivals:
The Flower Market: This occurs in May in the courtyard of the Castle. An array of flowers is sold by around 50 different nurseries and florists. Some of the varieties on display are tulips, camellias, hydrangeas and roses.
The Chlorophyll Walk: This walk takes place every spring, usually in May, and it involves 1,000 participants who walk around and view the landscape of St. Malo.
Étonnants Voyageurs Festival: This event celebrates international literature, and has been occurring since 1990 when writer and philosopher, Michel Lebris, along with the efforts of St. Malo mayor, René Couanau, collaborated to make the festival possible.
World Folklores Festival: This festival, which originally dedicated to celebrating to the singing, dancing, and music of the Breton culture is now held to celebrate culture from all over the world. This celebration that occurs at the beginning of the summer is something not to be missed!
Sacred Music Festival: This festival honors sacred music and takes place inside the cathedral during the summer.
La Route du Rock: This rock festival has been happening in St. Malo since 1990 and more than 20,000 from all over Europe come in August to witness the new musical talents of today at the Saint-Pére fort.
Quai des Bulles: This is a unique comic strips festival that happens in October.
