La Fête du Baiser ("festival of the kiss") is a

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

celebrated the Saturday after

St. Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it ha ...

, in Roquemaure,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, near

Avignon Avignon (, , ; or , ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the left bank of the river Rhône, the Communes of France, commune had a ...

. Begun in 1989, it commemorates not only

Saint Valentine Saint Valentine (; ) was a 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Western Christianity on February 14 and in Eastern Orthodoxy on July 6. From the High Middle Ages, his feast day has been associated with a tradition of courtly love. He is al ...

, whom locals claim as a former resident, but the arrival of his remains in 1868 to Roquemaure's

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', ''Chasse (casket), chasse'', or ''phylactery'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary, or the room in which one is stored, may also be called a ''feretory''. Relics may be the purported ...

. Celebrations revolve around a return to a 19th-century way of life, including costumes and markets. The relics of St Valentine were purchased in Rome, in hopes of curing the town's diseased

vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

stocks; within four years they were healed. Today, Roquemaure is home to a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

(Cellar St. Valentine) which produces wines named after the saint. The festival was started by a local priest, Father René Durieu. Men and women around the village dress as priests and nuns, kissing each other, as well as travelers. Special foods and wines are produced especially for the festival.

External links

Lip service: The wine and the kisses flow during a passionate French festival
''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

'', February 18, 2005
La Fête des Baisers ou La Festo de Poutoun

La Fête du Baiser : Saint Valentin à Roquemaure
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fete du Baiser, la Recurring events established in 1989 February Festivals in France Gard Tourist attractions in Gard Festivals established in 1989