5 March 2023
Whats On in Brittany – 2024
Brittany boasts a whole range of family events and festivals throughout the year and especially during the summer months. You will find that numerous events occur on the same weekend but so popular are such events that the organisers continue to mount ever more celebrations of music and the arts, historical pageantry and nautical themed events. All the local Tourist Information Centres can provide full details on all events taking place around the region on a day to day, week to week basis.
The annual Lorient Interceltiques Festival
One of France’s biggest international festivals.
Each summer, around 700,000 people from all over the world invade the Celtic land of Lorient for the Festival Interceltique. From Galicia to Scotland, the cream of Celtic music can be found here, to be enjoyed in a really convivial atmosphere.
Since 1971 thousands of music lovers have converged on Lorient for this inter celtique festival. Now well established, over 700,000 visitors come to listen to the Celtic sounds of the bombards and the bagad. Just like the Pied Piper, this inter-Celtic parade mesmerises the crowd, assembled here to celebrate an inter-Celtic night at the Moustoir stadium or in the fishing port, where you can also hear the sound of the Scottish and Spanish bagpipes. Around 200 events and shows and 5000 performers on the bill…Tourists will love the atmosphere, and the Lorient locals are wholeheartedly involved in this festival which celebrates Celtic culture.
The Vieilles Charrues festival takes place each year in July near Carhaix, Finistère.
Started in 1992, this open air music festival has rapidly established itself as the French equivalent of Glastonbury, and is now the biggest open air music event in France, attracting an eclectic variety of top musicians from France and abroad.
Whilst the line-up at the Vieilles Charrues changes every year, for over 20 years its recipe for success has remained the same with a mix of eclecticism and conviviality hosting music legends and up and coming stars. Five stages, 80 artists and 230,000 spectators…This festival really is a must!
Situated in the heart of the Finistère countryside, the festival will appeal just as much to electro mad teenagers as pop fans and rocking granddads. The festival has the knack of creating a melting pot of musical styles and generations to suit all styles and generations. Some of the big names that have already performed here include Iggy Pop and the Stooges, 2 Many DJ’s, Amon Tobin, Ben Harper, Bruce Springsteen, LCD Soundsystem, The Pixies and Muse.
The Festival de Cornouaille- Quimper, Finistère;
Brittany’s biggest annual festival of Breton culture.
Dedicated to the sheer richness and diversity of Breton culture, the Festival de Cornouaille is a cultural cornucopia, and even though it is now nearly ninety years old, this festival is still as youthful as ever.
Concerts, all kinds of entertainment, competitions to determine the best bagadoù, or bagpipe players, bell-ringers and dancers…and the Great Sunday Parade where everyone dresses in traditional costume. That’s the Festival de Cornouaille. For one week every summer, Quimper’s historic town centre vibrates to the Celtic rhythm, much to the delight of some 250,000 visitors. And, since 1923, the festival has never been a disappointment. Back then, the gorgeous girls of Concarneau, Quimper and Pont-Aven paraded proudly in traditional Breton costumes. Today, the festival has become a horn of plenty into which the likes of Jethro Tull, Joan Baez, Césaria Évora and Simple Minds pour their music. Simply mind blowing!
The Fête des filets Bleus (the Blue Fish Nets festival) in Concarneau (Finistère).
An opportunity to see the old streets of this fishing port filled with people in traditional Breton costume, and see traditional Breton dancing to the sound of traditional music. The festival first took place in 1905 !
Over a hundred years old, the Filets Bleus festival takes place every August, when it gives the town of Concarneau and its inhabitants an opportunity to go back to their roots. A typically Breton-flavoured costumed parade, with dancing and games that have no need whatsoever for artificial colouring.
Some come out of curiosity, others to see all the pomp and pageantry of the parade. Some want to win a bout of Gouren, a type of Breton wrestling, while others hope to learn a few steps of a traditional Breton dance or try their hand at palets, which is ‘boules’ Breton-style. And of course they come to see the new Miss Filets Bleus, chosen among the wealth of pretty young girls from Concarneau. It’s hard to imagine that this vibrant festival has been around for over a hundred years! Back then, the quays of Concarneau were covered in the blue sardine-fishing nets that have since given their name to this festival. In 1905, hard times hit the fishing industry and the inhabitants of Concarneau decided to pull together by creating the Filets Bleus. From that point on, this local event has never ceased to grow, becoming one of the most popular and unmissable festivals of traditional Breton culture. And it goes without saying that each and every visitor takes away a little piece of wonderful Breton culture. And once the sardines have been hauled in then it’s time to sound the Breton bagpipes or biniou and blow the bombard to announce the start of the Filets Bleus festival.
Fete de la Musique
A national music festival celebration which takes place throughout France during June organised in most of the larger towns and cities. These festivals are popular throughout Brittany and feature all kinds of music ensembles from blues and jazz to folk and rock, rap and gospel. An explosion of local, regional and national talent organised by local councils for their respective communities free of charge. In the area around Bazouges La Perouse, there are three very popular events at this time at Dol de Bretagne, Combourg and Pontorson. Each of these events attract thousands of people.