Calendar of Events

January

Monte Carlo Motor Rally. The world's most venerable car race. For more information, call tel. 377-92-16-61-16. Usually mid-January.

February

Fête de la Chandeleur (Candlemas), Basilique St-Victor, Marseille. A celebration in honor of the arrival in Marseille of the three Marys. A procession brings the Black Virgin up from the crypt of the abbey. For more information, call tel. 04-91-13-89-00. Early February.

Carnival of Nice. Float processions, parades, confetti battles, boat races, street music and food, masked balls, and fireworks are part of this ancient celebration. The climax follows a 114-year-old tradition in which King Carnival is burned in effigy, an event preceded by Les Batailles des Fleurs (Battles of the Flowers), during which members of opposing teams pelt one another with flowers. Come armed with a hotel reservation. For information or reservations, contact the Nice Convention and Visitors Bureau at tel. 08-92-70-74-07 (www.nicetourism.com). Mid-February to early March.

March

Procession des Pénitents (Procession of the Penitents). These marches are conducted in both Arles (tel. 04-90-18-41-20) and Collioure (tel. 04-68-82-15-47). Good Friday.

Procession du Christ Mort (Procession of the Dead Christ). On the French Riviera, one of the most fascinating religious processions is in Roquebrune-Cap Martin tel. 04-93-35-62-87. Good Friday.

Féria Pascale (Easter Bullfighting Festival), Arles. This is a major bullfighting event that includes not only appearances by the greatest matadors, but also abrivados and bodegas (wine stalls). For more information, call tel. 04-90-18-41-20 (www.tourisme.ville-arles.fr). Easter.

May

La Fête des Gardians (Camargue Cowboys' Festival), Arles. This event features a procession of Camargue cowboys through the streets of town. Activities feature various games involving bulls, including Courses Camarguaises, in which competitors have to snatch a rosette from between the horns of a bull. For information, call tel. 04-90-18-41-20. May.

Cannes Film Festival. Movie madness transforms this city into the kingdom of the media deal, with daily melodramas acted out in cafes, on sidewalks, and in hotel lobbies. It's great for voyeurs. Reserve early and make a deposit. Getting a table on the Carlton terrace is even more difficult than procuring a room. Admission to some of the prestigious films is by invitation only. There are box-office tickets for the less important films, which play 24 hours. For information, contact the Association Française du Festival International du Film, 3 rue Amélie, 75007 Paris (tel. 01-53-59-61-00; www.festival-cannes.org). Mid-May.

Festival des Musiques d'Aujourd'hui, Marseille. This festival presents the works of young French and European composers in music and dance. For more information, call Experimental Music Groups of Marseille at tel. 04-96-20-60-10 (www.gmem.org). Mid-May.

Monaco Grand Prix de Formule. Hundreds of cars race through the narrow streets and winding roads in a surreal blend of high-tech machinery and medieval architecture. For more information, call tel. 377-93-15-26-00 (www.acm.mc). Late May.

Fête de la Transhumance (Move to Summer Grazing), St-Rémy. This event celebrates the now-abandoned custom of shepherds presenting their flocks to the public before moving them to higher ground for summer. In this mock event, the flocks move off as if really going up to the mountains. For more information, call tel. 04-90-92-05-22. May to June.

Le Pélerinage des Gitans (Gypsies' Pilgrimage), Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer. This festival is in memory of the two Marys for whom the town is named (Mary, the mother of James the lesser, and Mary Salome, the mother of James the greater and John). A model boat containing statues of the saints and a statue of St. Sarah, patron saint of Gypsies, is taken to the seashore and blessed by the bishop. For more information, call tel. 04-90-97-82-55 (www.saintesmaries.com). Last week of May.

June

Festival de la St-Eloi, Maussane-les-Alpilles. For this festival, wagons are decorated and raced in the Carreto Ramado, followed by Mass, a procession in traditional dress, and a benediction. Special events are held and local produce and handicrafts are sold. For more information, call tel. 04-90-54-52-04 (www.maussane.com). Mid-June.

Festival Aix en Musique, Aix-en-Provence. Concerts of classical music and choral singing are held in historic buildings, such as the Théâtre de l'Archevêché and the Hôtel Maynier d'Oppède. For more information, call tel. 04-42-17-34-34 (www.festival-aix.com). Late June to late July.

Festival d'Expression Provençale, Abbaye St-Michel de Frigolet, Tarascon. At this festival, homage is paid to the region's language with works by Provençal writers that are acted in French and Provençal. For more information, call tel. 04-90-91-03-52. Late June to early July.

Fête de la Tarasque, Tarascon. The town relives St. Martha's victory over the dragon known as the Tarasque, which was believed to live in the Rhône in the lst century. Celebrations include a procession of horsemen, an archery competition, historical events, a medieval tournament, a Tarasque procession, Novilladas (young bullfighters), and an orchestral concert with fireworks. For more information, call tel. 04-90-91-03-52 (www.tarascon.org). Late June.

Feu de la St-Jean (St. John's Fire), Fontvieille. This event features folk troupes and Camargue cowboys who gather in front of the Château de Montauban. For more information, call tel. 04-90-54-67-49. Late June.

Reconstitution Historique, Salon-de-Provence. This pageant held in honor of Nostradamus includes a cast of 700 in historical costume and is followed by a son-et-lumière at the Château d'Empéri. For more information, call tel. 04-90-56-27-60. Late June to early July.

Festival de Marseille Méditerranée. This festival features concerts and recitals of music and song from the entire Mediterranean region. Theater and dance are also presented, along with special exhibitions in the city's main museums. For more information, call tel. 04-91-13-89-00 or 04-91-99-00-20. Late June to late July.

La Fête des Pècheurs (Fishermen's Festival), Cassis. The local "Prud'hommes" (members of the elected industrial tribunal) walk in procession wearing traditional dress, and a Mass is held in honor of St. Peter, followed by a benediction. For more information, call tel. 08-92-25-98-92. Late June.

July

St-Guilhem Music Season, St-Guilhem le Désert, Languedoc. This festival of baroque organ and choral music is held in a medieval monastery. For information, call tel. 04-67-57-44-33 (www.saint-guilhem-le-desert.com). Month of July.

Les Chorégies d'Orange, Orange. One of southern France's most important lyric festivals presents oratorios and choral works by master performers whose voices are amplified by the ancient acoustics of France's best-preserved Roman amphitheater. For more information, call tel. 04-90-34-24-24 (www.choregies.asso.fr). Early July to early August.

Bastille Day. Celebrating the birth of modern-day France, the festivities in the south reach their peak in Nice with street fairs, pageants, fireworks, and feasts. The day begins with a parade down the promenade des Anglais and ends with fireworks in the Vieille Ville. No matter where you are, by the end of the day you'll hear Piaf warbling "La Foule" (The Crowd), the song that celebrated her passion for the stranger she met and later lost in a crowd on Bastille Day. Similar celebrations also take place in Cannes, Arles, Aix, Marseille, and Avignon. July 14.

Nuit Taurine (Nocturnal Bull Festival), St-Rémy-de-Provence. At this festival, the focus is on the age-old allure of bulls and their primeval appeal to roaring crowds. Abrivados involve bulls in the town square as "chaperoned" by trained herders on horseback; encierros highlight a Pamplona-style stampeding of bulls through the streets. Music from local guitarists and flaming torches add drama. For more information, call tel. 04-90-92-05-22. Mid-July.

Nice Jazz Festival. This is the biggest, flashiest, and most prestigious jazz festival in Europe, with world-class entertainers. Concerts begin in early afternoon and go on until late at night (sometimes all night in the clubs) on the Arènes de Cimiez, a picturesque hill above the city. Reserve hotel rooms way in advance. For information, contact the Grand Parade du Jazz, c/o the tourist office of Nice (tel. 08-92-70-74-07; www.nicejazzfest.com). Mid-July.

Festival d'Avignon. One of France's most prestigious theater events, this world-class festival has a reputation for exposing new talent to critical acclaim. The focus is usually on avant-garde works in theater, dance, and music by groups from around the world. Make hotel reservations early. For information, call tel. 04-90-27-66-50 (www.festival-avignon.com). Last 3 weeks of July.

Fête de la St-Eloi (Feast of St. Eloi), Gémenos. Some hundred draft horses draw a procession of traditional flower-decked wagons. Folk troupes also perform. For more information, call tel. 04-42-32-18-44. Late July.

August

Fêtes Daudet (Daudet Festival), Fontvieille. At this festival, Mass said in Provençal is held on the Avenue of Pine Trees. There's folk dancing outside Daudet's mill and a torchlight procession through the streets of town to the mill. For more information, call tel. 04-90-54-67-49 (www.fontvieille-provence.com). Mid-August.

Féria de St-Rémy, St-Rémy-de-Provence. This event features a 4-day celebration of bulls with abrivado and encierro, branding, and Portuguese bull fighting (matadors on horseback). For more information, call tel. 04-90-92-05-22. Mid-August.

September

Féria des Prémices du Riz (Rice Harvest Festival), Arles. Bullfights are held in the amphitheater with leading matadors, and a procession of floats makes its way along boulevard des Lices; there are also traditional events with cowboys and women in regional costume. For more information, call tel. 04-90-18-41-20. Early September.

Fête des Olives, Mouriès. A Mass is held in honor of the green olive. There's a procession of groups in traditional costume, an olive tasting, and sales of regional produce. For more information, call tel. 04-90-47-56-58 (www.mouries.com). Mid-September.

October

Perpignan Jazz Festival. Musicians from everywhere jam in what many visitors consider Languedoc's most appealing season. For more information, call tel. 04-68-35-37-46 (www.jazzebre.com). Late September to late October.

November

Marché aux Santons, Tarascon. Craftspersons from throughout Provence congregate in this medieval village to sell their santons (carved representations of saints). For more information, call tel. 04-90-91-03-52. Four days in late November. This event is supplemented, sometimes with the same sellers, who move to the Foire aux Santons in Marseille, held between late November and Christmas. For more information, call tel. 04-91-13-89-00.

December

Fête des Bergers (Shepherds Festival), Istres. This festival features a procession of herds on their way to winter pastures. There are cowboys, a Carreto Ramado, a blessing of the horses, an all-night Provençal party with shepherds and Provençal storytellers, and folk troupes. For more information, call tel. 04-42-55-50-00. First weekend in December.

Foire de Noël, Mougins. Hundreds of merchants, selling all manner of Christmas ornaments and gifts, descend on Mougins in Provence, to herald in the Christmas spirit. For more information, call tel. 04-93-75-87-67. Mid- to late December.

Midnight Mass, Fontvieille. A traditional midnight Mass, including the pastrage ceremony, the presentation of a newborn lamb. A procession of folk troupes, Camargue cowboys, and women in traditional costume go from Daudet's mill to the church, followed by the presentation of the lamb. For more information, call tel. 04-90-54-67-49 (www.fontvieille-provence.com). December 24.

Noël Provençal, Eglise St-Vincent, Les Baux. The procession of shepherds is followed by a traditional midnight Mass, including the pastrage ceremony, traditional songs, and performance of a nativity play. For more information, call tel. 04-90-54-34-39. December 24.

Fête de St-Sylvestre (New Year's Eve), nationwide. Along the Riviera, it's most boisterously celebrated in Nice's Vieille Ville around place Garibaldi. At midnight, the city explodes. Strangers kiss strangers, and place Masséna and the promenade des Anglais become virtual pedestrian malls. December 31.