We arrived in Salies de Béarn to find a beautiful, small medieval town with a population of 4000, nestling amongst glorious countryside at the western foothills of the Pyrenees. Thursday afternoon was spent getting to know the town and where the main events would occur during the 25th annual Salt Festival weekend, particularly when and where the Mummers would perform.

 

Thursday evening, together with Martin Boyatt, a member of the Lion Salt Works Trust, we attended the official welcoming event for the delegations from the various countries taking part in the International themed 25th Festival. The event was opened by the joint chairmen of the festival, Philippe Villaine and André Escarpit, who also presented a video montage of highlights of the previous 25 years of the Festival. This took place in one of the town’s two conference centres.

 

Also there to welcome us was the mayor of Salies de Béarn, Lucien Basse-Cathalinat, who gave an illustrated talk about the town, it’s architectural heritage, and the strong continuing relationship to salt production, this was followed by several presentations from mayors from the surrounding area and a buffet in the other Centre.

 

Friday morning we were taken to visit to the Thermal Baths, one of the town’s main tourist attractions, by Clive and June Budd, and Jane Sully our ex-pat guides, to sample the delights of bathing in warm salt water. After this we were given a tour of the local winery, Domaines Lapeyre and Guilhemas, producers of prize winning rosé wine, who for the first time, have just won a Gold medal for their red wine. Philippe Villaine then hosted a lunch for the Lion Salt Works team and ourselves at the Casino, a building of historic importance, owned and undergoing renovation by the town and managed on their behalf by a company who part sponsor the Salt Festival. After lunch we were welcomed to the Town Hall by the Mayor, who was presented with a commemorative Salt Pig and samples of Lion Salt Works salt by Richard Hamlett, Chairman of the Lion Salt Works Trust, we were also welcomed by Monsieur Peyruseigt whose family is one of several, still in existence who have held the rights to the salt since 1587. This was followed by a talk on salt production by Monsieur Saule, a local expert on the history of salt in the town, who also showed our party around the Salt Museum.

 

Just time for a quick freshen up before returning to the Conference Centre for the evening presentations and performances by the various delegations. A video presentation by the Spanish town of Cardona preceded a brilliant performance by a team of very professional dancers in Spanish Catalan costume from Saint Vincent de Castellet. Martin Boyatt then gave an illustrated talk on the Lion Salt Works, which being entirely in French, was very well received, then it was the Mummers turn to perform our play in traditional style featuring salt in Cheshire, specially adapted for the festival with an introduction and summary in French by Jane Smith. As it was the first time that we had performed on stage in front of several hundred rather than at ground level in the street or small venues for smaller groups, it was with some trepidation we started. But judging by the reaction we went down rather well, so we needn’t have worried.

 

A brief interval, buffet, and more presentations finally finishing at midnight with the last performance by Group de Lanne, a local band of singers and musicians.

 

Saturday found hundreds of market stalls throughout the narrow streets of the oldest part of the town selling all manner of local produce, food, wine, arts and crafts, including clog and espadrille making. One of the pork stalls even featured live pigs! Added to this were several brass bands, folk groups, a dance troupe from Portugal, all playing as they moved around, mixing with the thousands of people attracted to the festivities. In amongst all this activity the Mummers were performing their play to many groups of amazed French people.

 

A lunch hosted by André Escarpit allowed us to escape the melee for a short while and also mix and talk with the Spanish delegation. During the afternoon John Brighouse with Ann and Phil Pugh also found time, between Mumming performances, to tour the town as a folk group. All in all, hard work, but lots of fun.

 

That evening we found ourselves back in the town square inside a huge marquee sitting with over 500 people, being fed paella, cooked on an open fire in a pan that was at least 2 metres in diameter. All the while entertained by the town’s youth brass band that played non-stop for several hours. The evening finished with a late night performance by a very fine male voice choir, Chanteours Pyrénéens de Tarbes, who had travelled from their town close to Andorra to be there.

 

Sunday there was definitely no rest as in full costume we took part in the parade to and from Church with representatives from the many food related Societies/Brotherhoods, such as the Snails, the Tomatoes and the Ham, not forgetting, of course, the Salt society of Salies. Then we discovered that Saturday was just the warm up for Sunday’s events. After the parades there were medal and certificate presentations to members of various delegations, including Martin and Richard, who were all upstaged by Thierry Lacroix, the French ex-international rugby player, being welcomed into the Brotherhood of Salt to huge applause and brass band music!

 

Then we were invited to witness to an historic event in the Town Hall. A treaty for tourism between the towns of Cardona and Salies de Béarn, the first ever of its type in Europe, was signed by the respective mayors, a senior official from the Spanish Government and the legal official for Salies, and attended by the local head of the Gendarmerie, before being sent to Brussels for ratification. Truly an honour to be present. Then a celebratory aperitif with the two mayors before taking our places amongst over a thousand people, sitting in marquees in the town square, where we were served with a hot, five course, lunch. Once again the meal was accompanied by non-stop brass band music, this time by two bands, each competing to see who could get the most people dancing on their chairs, extraordinary!

 

Then, almost finally, the main Festival parade. Unfortunately this was in the rain that had started during lunch, and took hours as we wove our way slowly around the town several times performing as we went and getting covered with the traditional salt, confetti, water and straw, much to the delight of hordes of small (and not so small) children. A brief break to clean up then back to the Town Hall for the formal good-byes with the Mayor, accompanied by the inevitable brass band.

 

Finally the Mayor was presented with the Marbury Lady’s mask and horse’s head that that had been specially made for the trip by Malcolm and Anne Ainsworth and signed by all the Mummers.

 

Was it a success, and did the Mummers represent Vale Royal well?

 

Perhaps the best way to answer this is to quote the Mayor of Salies de Béarn, who told me, “before the weekend we had expected that the English might be ‘stuffed shirts’, and would not enter into the spirit of the weekend, instead we have been pleasantly surprised to find that you are as fun loving as ourselves”. So, in this small part of France people from Vale Royal will not only be welcome, but discover that ‘Les Mummers’ have prepared the path well.

 

For us we have found a part of France where the countryside is every bit as beautiful as that of Vale Royal, and where we have made friends, not only with our ex-pat ‘guides’ but with many of the warm, generous and extremely hospitable Béarnais people of Salies de Béarn. Will we go back? Will we recommend it as a place to visit? You bet!

 

© Ron Stephens—(www.stephensdesign.co.uk)

 

 

 

Salies-de-Bearne

Fete du Sel  September 2005