Heritage celebrations

The authentic mountain

A bit like family reunions, the heritage festivals take you into the thatched cottages of history, the past and mountain traditions. Conviviality, sharing, encounters and know-how are all part of the program at heritage festivals in the heart of Varsinc villages.

Heritage

a strong history

It’s said that you had to be born there to stay there: living in the high mountains meant a life of hard work, with the harsh climate and farm chores. But a life always marked by humanity and solidarity. A population cut off from the world for months at a time, who had to organize themselves: making bread in the communal oven, carpentry, framing… in the words of an old-timer, “We didn’t know how to do anything, but we did everything to each other” (Paul Rostollan).

Villages, encounters

Wandering around with curiosity gives you an insight into the life of yesteryear: Vars wasn’t always the summer and winter sports resort it is today. It is above all a valley with a centuries-old history: take a look behind the scenes. On a fine summer’s day, take the time to stroll through the villages of Vars. Watches used to be sundials: look up and search the walls of old farmhouses for these solar markers with their meaningful mottos: time makes love pass, but love makes time pass.

No washing machines, but laundries in every village where women used to get together to wash their clothes with room-temperature water: give it a try! The church and temple of Saint Marcellin bear witness to the sometimes turbulent religious history of the Alpine valleys, and the wooden crosses that line the villages are adorned with the attributes of Christ’s Passion.

Alpesphotographies.com Vars Sainte Catherine (60)

Bread Festival
Saint Mary's Day

Relive the traditions that have marked life in the mountains.

Vars Sainte Catherine’s communal oven used to bake bread for the whole village, with each village having its own oven. Today, only this one remains, and it is restarted every summer, offering a bread with unique flavors.

It is restarted twice a summer, for a bread-making session according to ancestral rites. From the kneading trough to the sale of loaves, it’s a tradition that rises from the ashes and offers a moment of sharing and entertainment in the heart of the varsinc village.

An unmissable part of the Varsinc summer, August 15 is the village’s day of celebration of its patron saint: workshops, village tours, entertainment and dance shows, garage sales, pétanque competitions – it’s the popular festival par excellence, in a convivial and traditional setting, with the religious procession and the ball at the end of the day, which ends with a fireworks display.

Always more

The villages of Vars

Go and discover the charming mountain villages of the Vars resort!

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