19 February 2008

Fête du Citron - Tahiti


The Fete du Citron is held in February/March for nearly three weeks, each year with a different theme - this year Islands of the World. Today: Tahiti. Here we see the floats on permanent display in the Jardin Biovès but as well as this, there are 4 evenings when the gardens are open for a Jardins de Lumières display. I imagine these floats, lit at night, must be quite magical.

The biggest events tho are the corsos - which take place on specified nights and sometimes during the day. These are processions of moveable floats with bands, folklorique groups, drum majorettes and marching bands, not to mention pretty girls everywhere. Banked seating areas have already been erected throughout the town and have to be booked in advance. The Fête du Citron draws thousands and thousands of visitors from all over the world - and many more come into Menton for the parades.

Tomorrow - another island and we'll learn how the lemon entered the scene.

11 comments:

  1. Wow! That's fantastic! Must take a lot of lemons. It's so colourful and festive. I should hop over to Menton.

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  2. I don't know how you manage but you do have a knack for finding some fabulous subjects for your photos!
    Well done girl!

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  3. They look very colorful, I bet its neat to see them lit up.

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  4. I'm big, I'm strong ... ops...hey, no way, I'm no good for lemon juice! - says the lemon sculpture.

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  5. This reminds me of Pasadena's Rose Parade, where all the floats are made of flowers. I love the pictures. So colorful!

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  6. c'est magnifique, on dirait une statue inca. quel travail pour faire cela avec que des citrons.

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  7. Wonderful! And three weeks of it!

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  8. Absolutely wonderful. And so colorful. Do they sell a lot of orange juice and lemonade too?

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  9. Jilly I so love to be at the Fete du Citron with you!

    The preparation a couple of days ago was really interesting - nice to have a behind the scene aspect.

    Yesterday's entrance was quite spectacular, as is today's float.
    Having lived in Tahiti I have to say the statue only remotely looks like those you can see over there, but let's not spoil the fun, I'm enjoying this too much!

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  10. I love to learn of local customs and festivities. The photo is a real eye catcher.
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