Flower parade and carnival on the French Riviera – Var

Lavandou flower parade March, 2024 - Corso Bormes February, 2024 - Parade of lights Cavalaire February 2024 - Corso La Londe March, 2024 - Mimosa Carnival Sainte-Maxime February, 2024 - Nice Carnival theme: “ Olympic Games from antiquity to the present day” February 2024 - Menton, 90th Lemon Festival February 2024 - La Napoule mimosa festival February 2024

Bormes-les-Mimosas - February 2024

Flower parade Lavandou - March, 2024

The Lavandou Flower parade is a dozen floats adorned with fresh flowers alongside majorettes, musicians, brass bands and troubadours that parade from 2 p.m. on the Lavandou seafront and ends with a magnificent battle of flowers on the theme "la mer qu'on voit danser".

Nice Carnival - February 2024

La Londe-les-Maures Carnival - March, 2024

Carnival : history and tradition

The flower carnival originates from Egypte and Greece. These countries coming from paganism used to celebrate respectively the Apis bull and the Bacchus bull, they were being immolated while people danced and were screaming of joy. Before that, a human victim replaced the bull. From 1420 the carnival consisted of a bull adorned of feather and dazzling objects and clothes, and a child, king of the butchers that was perched on its back. This practice was abolishes in 1790 and restored in 1805. After that, the king of the butchers was replaced by a float full of young girls wearing mythologycal ceremonials of Love (hence the Queen's float). Then the Corso got its inspiration from Italy with floats decorated by leaves and branches, pulled on the main street by participants allowed to make fun of the local key figures. From 1950 the corsos in the South became a tourist show with majorettes, bands, flower battles, paying stand, tractors, amusement rides... losing all their villager and religious roots....