Regulating Lily-of-the-Valley (Muguet) Festivals in France on the National and Local Levels

Abstract

France has been home to diverse Maying customs that varied
from one village or hamlet to the next, and practices enacted in more
urban contexts also reflect this variability. The regulation of May Day
customs such as politically oriented marches is an object of national
law and this extends to rules on the gathering and sale of lily-of-thevalley,
the customary lower gift for that date. On a more local level,
much action is now undertaken under the heading of ‘territorialisation’,
which often involves promoting tourist and commercial attractiveness,
specifically including holiday events, such as the Lily-of-the-Valley Festival
in the town of Rambouillet. The township carried out an in-depth
study of the issues involved in supporting and regulating festive events
generally and this ‘fête’ in particular. Regulation is part of the interplay
between the town administration and the actors ‘in the street’ whose
work maintains the life of the festival, an often delicate balancing act,
with manifold threads that may (or may not) underwrite the continuation
of such events