Photos of the festival

As promised, here are some of the wonderful photos of the festival this morning, saying goodbye to winter and welcoming spring. The festival moves from village to village each year. This time, it was in a village called Meuilley. We had never been there before and (to no one's surprise, I am sure) found it beautiful.

Katie and Livie follow the confetti.

 

We finally figure out who is leading this parade... the bon homme, stuffed with straw.

 

 

Nothing like a centuries-old church to walk by on your way around town.

 

At first, the kids weren't so sure about throwing the confetti (I almost hear them thinking "But that's LITTERING, Mom). We didn't ask anyone about the environmental impact of all of that paper... and instead just got into the fun. Katie, especially, loved throwing it... are we are still finding pieces of it everywhere (hair, scarves, coats, shoes, etc.)

 

 

 

It was quite a long walk... and there were tons of yellow-vested volunteers stopping traffic the whole way. I felt sorry for the cars who had to wait (and wait, and wait, and wait) for all of those children (and adults) to pass by... maybe they are used to it this time of year?

I love the photo below -- it really shows Katie's joy at the whole experience.

 

The big girl (Laurie) in the next two photos was one of les grands from Magny who went to Katie and Livie's school the morning the bus wasn't running. Katie, especially, LOVED les grands and Laurie and Geraldine's daughter Jeanne in particular. She came home that night and drew about 14 pictures for her various new best friends. Part of the appeal was that these big girls could speak a little English. This was a bigger deal than we thought at first, which I realized when Katie came up to me and asked me how to print "I SPEAK ENGLISH". She wrote that sentence on each of the 14 drawings... almost as if to say "finally -- they've figured out I don't speak French!" 

At any rate -- Katie and Livie were both thrilled to see Laurie at the festival.

 

 

Jack ran into a few of his classmates, too. At first, he was a bit shy (as I said in the first post, he wasn't so sure about the whole festival -- at least until they lit the bon homme on fire. At that point, it became a very cool thing, indeed). But when a second classmate came up (the second picture below) and told him where to stand for the best views, the shyness disappeared. At the end, one of Kate and Liv's teachers (in full costume) came up with her pot full of confetti and offered him a spoon. He almost took it -- and then gave a HUGE laugh (seen in the third picture).

 

 

 

 

 

And then, most unexpectedly (for us), they lit the bon homme. 

Going...

 

...going...

 

 ...GONE!....

We hope, indeed, that we have said goodbye to winter and hello to spring. And even if we haven't -- the fun of this celebration will surely keep us warm should the snow dare to fall again.