VILLENEUVE-LEZ-AVIGNON The feast of Saint-Marc returns next weekend
It’s hard to say since when Saint-Marc has been celebrated in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon. For several centuries, that’s for sure. The only years the celebration could not take place was during the war and during the covid-19 pandemic.
This year 2022 therefore marks the return of this celebration suspended for three years. It will be shifted by a weekend so as not to fall at the same time as the second round of the presidential election, and will therefore take place on Saturday April 30 and Sunday May 1. ” We are happy that the tradition continues“, indicates the mayor, Pascale Bories, to the address of the brotherhood of Saint-Marc.
The festivities will begin on Saturday April 30, at 5 p.m.: the procession will leave from the Saint-Marc vineyard and then stroll through the historic center of Villeneuve, accompanied by the Farine d’Inmourtalo group and the Saint-Marc cart. At 6:30 p.m., the leases will proceed with the uprooting of the stump in the plot. It will then be set on fire the next day at 8:30 p.m. on Place Jean-Jaurès, after being decorated with ears of wheat and mulberry leaves. This symbolic act augurs to the winegrowers a good harvest at the following harvest.
On Sunday, wine market, mass in Provençal and stump dance
On Saturday, after the uprooting, there will be the song of Graces and also the enthronement of several personalities
followed by an aperitif and entertainment by the group and the pena BB’Q. On Sunday May 1, visitors can take advantage of the wine and regional products market set up on Place Jean-Jaurès from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. A lily of the valley sale is also planned while Josef Hillemacher and his cat will animate the streets with the barrel organ.
At 10 a.m., the solemn mass in Provençal will be held given by Fathers André Chapus and Cyril Farweck at Notre-Dame collegiate church, with the participation of the Comtadin vocal ensemble from Carpentras and the Capouliéro from Martigues, who will also perform some dances at the leaving the ceremony. Several blessed buns will also be distributed. Saint Mark’s Day will therefore end at 8:30 p.m. with the conflagration and the stump dance.