Not to be missed: La Fete de la Cocagne

The myth of the "Pays de Cocagne," a land of perpetual indulgence, can be traced as far back in literature as the early 1200s. The Carmina Burana, an eclectic collection of poems written by itinerant students and monks, includes among its texts references to a land of abundance where the more one slept the richer one became (a fascinating historical backdrop to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's oft-mocked proposal that French labor laws be modified so that French employees can "work more to earn more.")

More recently -- which is to say during 1500s and 1600s -- "cocagne" was the word used to refer to compacted balls of blue dye derived from the (yellow flowered) pastel, or woad plant. Until indigo dyes from the far east became readily available as a result of the development of trade and shipping routes, woad was in high demand throughout Europe as a dye and ink. The pastel plant was cultivated widely in the Lauragais, and the region flourished economically on exports of cocagne. Thus, the Lauragais region itself is sometimes referred to as the Pays de Cocagne, perhaps loosely translated as "Woad country."

Whether as the land of plenty or as the land where woad once was cultivated, since 1972 the small town of St. Felix de Lauragais has celebrated the cocagne heritage of the region with its annal Fete de la Cocagne festival on Easter weekend. This year the festival will be on Easter Sunday, March 23 and the following Monday, March 24.

The festival offers a fabulous array of medieval style arts, crafts, and entertainers. The setting and atmosphere is so ideal you can easily imagine you have suddenly been transported 800 years back in time. For anyone who ever attended a "Renaissance Fair" in California, it is somewhat the same idea but with fewer hippies and in a real village of stone buildings dating back several hundred years. (Hmm, wonder if maybe some hippie picked up the idea here?) There is something of interest for all ages, including free old-time games and toys for children (these are quite popular, and your kids may actually forget for a few minutes about television, computers and gaming consoles), equestrian displays, renaissance choirs, wandering troubadors, traditional arts and crafts, and a display of antiques housed in a chateau dating to the 1200s. All this in a hilltop setting offering panoramic views from the ramparts across the Lauragais countryside. Of course, no French village fete would be complete without plenty of food and drink available.

St. Felix is about 20 minutes' drive from our gite on country roads. Somehow, every time we've gone the weather has been fabulous. If you can break free on Easter weekend you won't be disappointed. Catch one of the budget airlines to Carcassonne on Saturday or Sunday, visit the fair Sunday or Monday, and be back home Monday evening. The festival is Sunday, March 23 and Monday, March 24 (the Monday after Easter is widely taken as a holiday in France), from 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. each day.