The traditional festivals of the Upper Great St. Bernard Valley follow the cycle of the Alpine seasons.
The Coumba Freida Carnival is celebrated between January and February in the towns of Saint-Rhémy-en-Bosses, Saint-Oyen, and Étroubles. The parade’s signature mask is the Landzetta. The Landzette wear a velvet costume in bright colors, hand-embroidered with over 30,000 sequins and beads, reflective mirrors to ward off winter spirits, a belt with a bell, and a horsehair whip. The costume is a parodic take on the uniforms of the French soldiers in Napoleon Bonaparte’s army, which passed through the Great St. Bernard Pass in May 1800.
Fiolet is a traditional folk sport from the Aosta Valley played in the spring (from March to May) on the meadows in the valley floor before the grass grows tall enough for grazing. It consists of striking an oval wooden ball (fiolet) placed on a smooth stone (pila) with a wooden mallet that has a flared end (eissola). The regional Fiolet championship has been held since 1953.
The Bataille des Reines is a non-violent pushing contest between pregnant cows of the black-and-brown-spotted Aosta Valley breed, held to establish the herd’s hierarchy. The municipality of Étroubles hosts an official summer qualifying round every two years; the qualifying cows advance to the regional fall final at the Croix-Noire arena in Aosta, which takes place in late October.
The Pan Ner Festival takes place between late October and early November. The wood-fired ovens in the hamlets of Étroubles, Saint-Oyen, and Saint-Rhémy are fired up for the communal baking of traditional black rye-and-wheat bread and flantze (bread enriched with walnuts and raisins), which are stored for the winter on suspended wooden racks (ratelér). More details on traditional bread-making can be found in the “Black Bread” fact sheet.
Among other notable summer reenactments is La Veillà d’Étroubles, featuring demonstrations of traditional crafts in the village in early August.
