Culture and Sport
Bayonne has the longest tradition of bull-fighting in France and there is a ring beyond the walls of Grand Bayonne. The season runs between July and September. Bull-fighting is part of the five-day Fêtes de Bayonne which starts on the first Wednesday of August and attracts people from across the Basque Country and beyond. Parades, music, dance, fireworks, food and drink all feature in the celebrations. Soon after the Assumption festival of 15 August heralds a few more days of bull-fights.
There are also important festivals of Jazz (July), Bayonne ham (Holy Week), theatre and pelota (the Basque sport).
Aviron Bayonnais is the city's rugby union club, founded in 1904 and French champions three times, in 1913, 1934 and 1943. The local football team is Aviron Bayonnais FC.
Basque is the language spoken in this city together with french.
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Famous quotes containing the words culture and, culture and/or sport:
“Culture and possessions—there is the bourgeoisie for you.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
“I am writing to resist the view that Europe and civilization are going to Hell. If I am being “crucified for an idea”Mthat is, the coherent idea around which my muddles accumulated—it is probably the idea that European culture ought to survive, that the best qualities of it ought to survive along with whatever cultures, in whatever universality. Against the propaganda of terror and the propaganda of luxury, have you a nice simple answer?”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“The sport of digging the bait is nearly equal to that of catching the fish, when one’s appetite is not too keen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)