Fêtes de Tarbes; rain, rain gone away

Pictures below.

Marc's turn for a talk--This Sunday Marc gave a talk in church. We do not have a paid ministry in our church; we are all volunteers (we actually pay to go on our mission). So members of the congregation alternate giving talks in church. Because there is no paid priest that delivers sermons, everyone gets their turn as that is how we grow and learn. We learn best by teaching, and that experience we gain goes with us when we leave this life and go on to our life beyond.

The subject of his talk was Bénédictions non réclamées, or unclaimed blessings. We believe that there are laws just like gravity that we all have to follow in life, and if we do better at following these laws (being obedient), we will be happier in this life and beyond. One of our scriptures the Doctrines and Covenants (D&C 130:18-21) says :

18 Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.

19 And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come.

20 There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated

21 And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

In his talk, he reviewed many of the commandments, such as the 10 commandments, Law of Tithing (Malichi 3:10), the two great commandments (Matthew 22:36-40), Word of Wisdom (D&C 89), blessings of modern-day temples (1 Kings 6), etc. and the benefits of keeping these commandments and laws.

Fêtes de Tarbes—A “fête” is a party; but this is a PARTY, French-style. For Tarbes, the fête begins on 21 June, the Summer Solstice and longest day of the year. Each town throughout France has their own nationally-declared Music Festival Day (Fête de la Musique), but individual towns choose also to have an extended party around that date. Music is the central theme and the uniting force of this annual party/festival. Tarbes really came to life this week: on the “other end” (Place Marcadieu, the size of a football field and then some) there are carnival rides and marathons, cotton candy (barbe à papa) and carnival games. For the musical festival sector, whole streets and surrounding plazas are closed off. We’ve never seen so many people come out of the woodwork. Fortunately this day was sunny with a balmy breeze and warm night. We have WAITED and WAITED for a no-rain day!! For Tarbes, it came on the perfect day: Fêtes de Tarbes

The Fête encompasses all the center of town, its surrounding plazas, streets and cafes. For Tarbes, that includes Place Verdun, Place de Marcadieu (open-air market hall and plaza); Mayor’s courtyard and spilling out into all the surrounding streets that have cafes. During Fêtes de Tarbes, cafes are allowed to bring in extra tables and chairs and spill out onto the streets. Many of the cafes hire music groups of a specific genre in line with their cuisine; but on the closed streets you will find individuals and groups by the dozens singing, playing instruments and/or dancing.

It’s almost impossible to name both the national and international varieties we saw and heard. Stages were set up throughout town. Scores of others staked out a corner or planted themselves in front of a storefront for their group. Some groups paraded. Anyone and everyone wishing to celebrate and share music are invited and at no cost to them. Other individuals sang from their open-window balconies.

The festival ends at 2am. Of course we were long gone prior to that….and very happy our apartment was not on any of the many side streets who had amplified music wafting into the air until the wee hours of the morning. It’s a bit of a “mini” Mardis Gras…..hey, that’s French! FYI: The world-renowned 4-day long Mardis Gras, from Rio-de-Janiero Brazilian-style, is a totally different event.

Rain, rain gone away—We started to think we were in a monsoon season area. I’m sure coming from San Diego (where we got plenty spoiled, weather-wise), we are extra sensitive and have forgotten what “real” weather is. But with only 2 choices in San Diego (wet and cold-ish or hot and dry) we only knew variations on that same theme. Here, next to the Pyrenees Mountains, weather happens all the time. All day long the weather is ever changing up everything you do minute by minute. But by the 3^rd week of constant cold and rain, even the natives were noticing and commenting how summer was really winter. Some were wearing their winter jackets and scarves and we had to pull out layers of sweaters back out from winter storage. Not quite as far as gloves, but we did put our hands in our pockets some days.

We’re not “complaining” but from the dusty-cornered cobwebs of my mind came a 4^th grade lesson on weather. That lesson lay dormant all these years but was graphically brought to mind during those 3 rainy weeks. We just couldn’t fathom where all the rain was coming from….surely these rain clouds get empty at some point. But then in rolled that 4^th grade lesson thinking about the “science” behind it all. Remember learning about windward and leeward sides of a mountain in Social Studies class? (see pic below)

Mountains and mountain ranges can be weather makers. Marc is from Alaska and we watch Denali make local weather patterns. We’ve seen the summer huts built on Austrian Tyrolean Mountains built specifically for sudden snow squalls that can catch shepherds or mountaineers unawares with white-out, blinding snowy conditions….in August. But we’ve never lived by those weather-making mountains. Until now, that is. We’ll see what the rest of this year brings to see if this is a pattern or a fluke year as some seem to think.

Enjoy Fêtes de Tarbes.

A la prochain.

Cloud map of France during the rainy days. The yellow triangle at the bottom is Tarbes. The rain clouds pile up against the Pyrenees. The Spanish side of the Pyrenees is very dry