Sant Esteve del Monestir will host the 21st Bressolada on 5 June, as La Bressola marks 50 years of promoting Catalan language and culture in Northern Catalonia. The annual festival will run from 5pm to 9pm for the first time, with organisers saying the later schedule is meant to avoid the hottest hours of the day.
The event will take place at Parc de l’Estany and is open to students, families, teaching staff, members and friends of La Bressola, as well as the wider public. This year’s theme is “De festejaires en sem un poc” (We are a bit festive), linked to the schools’ annual project, “Festa Major” (Main Festival), and the corrandes song “Les minyones de Tuïr” (The girls of Tuïr).
From 5pm, the programme begins with “La Festa Major de la Bressola”, where children will present a song-anthem created for their schools. Orchestra Fireluche and students will then perform “Serà meua la llengua” (The language will be mine), a song by writer Joan-Lluís Lluís, in tribute to La Bressola’s 50 years. More details on the association can be found on the news tag page.
At 6pm, a gathering of colles geganteres, giant groups, will bring participants from Perpinyà, el Soler, Argelers de la Marenda and Sant Hipòlit de la Salanca. They will join the capgrossos, or big-heads, and bèsties, or beasts, from the schools. The Castellers del Riberal d’Aire Nou de Bao and the Pallagos del Conflent del Casal del Conflent will also perform human towers.
From 7pm, college students will lead traditional workshops and games for younger children, and at 8pm Els Delai Music will give a Catalan rumba concert. Food and drink stalls, merchandise sales and a display from Northern Catalan organisations will also be part of the festival, alongside a documentary recording about La Bressola’s 50 years, which is due to air in autumn.
The event will also include participants from the CAMÍ8 walk, which will cross Rosselló on 6 and 7 June, and visitors will be able to taste and buy the Bressolada 2026 wine. The red and white wines come from the Laure de Nyls cooperative, which was damaged by a storm in February. The Bressolada poster was designed by Marion Enault Escuder, a designer and former student. For background on the schools, see the official La Bressola site at labressola.cat.
Before the main festival, an institutional inauguration was held on 4 June at 6:30pm at Col·legi la Bressola-Mas Rosselló in Canet de Rosselló. Miquel Mayol, honorary president of La Bressola, gave the opening address, with speeches from Guillem Nivet, Geoffroy Lourdou, Nicolas Garcia, Eliane Jarycki, Albert Piñeira and Joan Santanach.