Fêtes du Soleil

Recording the intangible heritage of Mediterranean popular festivals

Les Fêtes du Soleil (Sun Festivals) drew attention to the unique spirit of the local festivals that form such a feature of Mediterranean life.This kind of popular culture is just as valuable, and vulnerable, as the manuscripts of Timimoun.Video and CD allowed Les Fêtes du Soleil to capture the sights and sounds of 47 festivals throughout the Mediterranean.Some date back to antiquity while others,like the Almond Blossom Festival in Agrigento (Sicily), only date back a few decades. This suggests that where Mediterranean people don't have popular customs they create them,just as they always have done. These events are as much part of Mediterranean heritage as the stones of the Acropolis,but while tourists like to photograph the Acropolis without people, that makes no sense for the Palio in Siena (Italy), or the Moussem Idris Zerhoune in Meknes (Morocco).