Pailhasses
The festival of Pailhasses is held each Ash Wednesday in the village of Cournonterral (French department of the Herault).
Pailhasses hold place of Carnaval of last minute before the Lent, but only the inhabitants of the village and some privileged guests can take part in it. To avoid any misunderstanding, the police force prohibits even the access to Cournonterral the afternoon in question.
During three hours, Pailhasses give hunting to the White through the streets of the borough, while endeavouring to dirty them with blow of " peilles" (literally “floorcloths”) soaked with binds. But any person passing by there is regarded as participant in the play and can be dirtied. At the end of the period, the caught ex-White are straightforwardly plunged in tanks filled with dregs. The White have the initiative however since it is them which cause to some extent Pailhasses that they cross on their way.
In the beginning, Pailhasses were the inhabitants of Cournonterral and the White those of Aumelas, but from now on each one chooses the camp to which he wants to join. Medieval resurgence or pagan, the festival of Pailhasses makes it possible to evacuate possible frustrations between villager and everyone can thus start the Lent with more serenity…
From which does this tradition come? The inhabitants of Cournonterral were accustomed to going to cut Holm oak in the communal forests and seigneuriales contiguous to those of Aumelas. The inhabitants of Aumelas, regarding the holm oak as their only source of revenue, maintained a deaf hatred against Cournonterralais who came to be useful themselves, and thus one day when the inhabitants of Cournonterral had decided to cut wood, Aumelassiens accommodated them with blows of sling and arrows. There be several casualties. The consuls and the lord of the place were informed and ordered by it with the Bayle " Pailhas" to put an end to this competition.
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