BACKGROUND
The Fête de Vendanges, of Wine and Crafts takes place every year in Ouveillan in October. It continues an old and much loved custom of the Languedoc. It was called "Dius oc vol" "Se Dius lo vol" or "Se Dius va vol", (What God wanted) - an expression that indicates a harvest feast at the end of the agricultural year. That marked a rite that was lost around about the last war. It was rediscovered in Languedoc: Aude, Ariège, Tarn, Rouergue. It was a farewell to when the harvest was finished, a way to express thanks to fellow workers, and to enjoy a year that God had blessed.
Towards the end of the harvest it was customary to work at a frantic speed "nos donaran pas solament lo temps de pissar" . Then there was the dinner: solenca, proferta sarda ou acabaira, a great feast offered to laborers, under a shelter or in the cart shed. It was the time for cassoulet with sausage and salt, poultry, legs of mutton. ..and wine. Afterwards during dessert everyone drank heartily of "brûlot" - burnt brandy with sugar in large glasses.
Fete de Vendage, Ouveillan
