Fête de Mimosa

Every French village seems to have a fête or two for which it is famous. As you may recall, our village is known for the fête involving the moving of sheep to, or from their summer pastures. Several towns close to us, however, choose to fête the blooming of the Mimosa trees, a bright yellow bloom on trees that grow all over the hillsides of this part of Provence.

We first went for Sunday lunch with a group of friends. In the French countryside, this is what you do on Sundays, and spots need to be reserved in advance at even the smallest of restaurants. By 3 o’clock we were ready to wind our way up to the tiny hilltop village of Tanneron, for their fête de Mimosa. The girls (except for Bronwyn who had gone off to Nice for the day with her Danish buddy, Linus) gathered armfuls of blooming Mimosa branches from the three or four “Mimosa floats” that drove around and around the village square.