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These ancestral festivals open the Carnival festivities and mark the end of winter in Vallespir. The Bear Festivals are listed in UNESCO's inventory of intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
2025 Dates:
2 February – Arles-sur-Tech
16 February – Prats-de-Mollo
23 February – Saint Laurent-de-Cerdans
Bear Holiday Video
Legend has it that a bear kidnapped a young shepherdess to mate. Hunted by hunters, the bear, after valiantly defending itself, was captured and the young girl saved. The bear was brought back to the village square where it was shaved. More humane, the bear then carried out various jobs and tasks on behalf of the villagers.
This story has become an initiatory journey, the ritual of passage to adult life from the status of a bear to the status of a civilized human being. Young men dress up as bears and roam the villages to tag young girls of marriageable age.
In order to learn and perpetuate the tradition with the youngest, each Bear festival has its junior bear festival.
