Festivals
Brittany has a vibrant calendar of festivals and events. Several are of course maritime themed while others reflect Brittany’s lively music heritage or the region’s diverse culture. Traditional Breton festivals, fest noz in Breton, regularly take place in towns and villages throughout Brittany and include local music and dancing. Brittany also hosts some of France’s biggest contemporary music festivals.
Cultural festivals
- Festival de Cornouaille: July (Quimper, Finistère)
A long-established festival that showcases Brittany’s cultural diversity.
- Les Filets Bleus: August (Concarneau, Finistère)
This long-standing festival celebrates fishing traditions in the coastal town of Concarneau.
- Festival Interceltique de Lorient: August (Lorient, Morbihan)
An internationally renowned festival that celebrates Celtic traditions.
- Festival du Film Britannique: October (Dinard, Côtes-d’Armor)
This British film festival screens previews of British films in France.
Music festivals
- Art Rock: May (Saint-Brieuc, Côtes d'Armor)
Pop, rock and electro festival.
- Vieilles Charrues: July (Carhaix, Finistère)
This music festival is the Breton equivalent of Glastonbury in the UK.
- Festival du Bout du Monde: August (Crozon, Finistère)
This world music festival
- Astropolis: August (Brest, Finistère)
A prominent electro and techno festival.
- La Route du Rock: August (St-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine)
Pop and rock, often with an Anglo-Saxon flavour.
- Les Transmusicales: December (Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine)
Known for showcasing brand new acts : Nirvana and Portishead did some of their early gigs at this festival.
Maritime festivals
- Fêtes Maritimes de Brest: July (Brest, Finistère)
This sailing event takes place every 4 years (the next one is in 2012).
- La Route du Rhum: November (St-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine)
This transatlantic single-handed yacht race takes place every 4 years (the next one is in 2014).
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Famous quotes containing the word festivals:
“This is certainly not the place for a discourse about what festivals are for. Discussions on this theme were plentiful during that phase of preparation and on the whole were fruitless. My experience is that discussion is fruitless. What sets forth and demonstrates is the sight of events in action, is living through these events and understanding them.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“Why wont they let a year die without bringing in a new one on the instant, cant they use birth control on time? I want an interregnum. The stupid years patter on with unrelenting feet, never stopping—rising to little monotonous peaks in our imaginations at festivals like New Year’s and Easter and Christmas—But, goodness, why need they do it?”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)