Fete de la Madeleine.

The fete de la Madeleine takes place each year, over 5 days, in Mont de Marsan. It is one of the largest fetes in the south west and people come from all over. The town centre is closed to traffic and many people camp in and around the town.
I went in on the Saturday morning to watch the "encierro". I had a walk around the town first and saw all the temporary bars and restaurants that had been set up in the town centre. The streets were full of people and "bandas" were parading and playing in the streets. Bandas are orchestras that play music at all the fetes in the region. Many towns have their own banda and colourful uniform. I saw one banda who had a little boy, of about 6, playing the drum and tapping his foot to the rythem of the music.
Mont de Marsan has a large bull ring and one of the main activities, over the 5 days, is bullfighting. It is very popular in this part of the world and it seems that they have some famous matadors who perform here each year. The "encierro" is the running of the bulls and a part of the street from the main roundabout to the bull ring was fenced off for this. The bulls ran from the bullring through the street and then into a lorry that was parked at the end of the safety railings and then back again.