Festa del Tarluc

January, Upper Valley


The Tarluc Festival is the feast that represent the Ecomuseum of Pastoralism on the territory of out Valley.
The term “Tarluc” in the Oc Language indicates the phenomenon where, from November to February, in Pontebernardo the sun rises in the morning, disappears behind the top of the Mount Ubac, and then appears again in the afternoon: in this period Pontebernarndo has only two suns.
It is the feast celebrated during the heart of winter, a season that has always been experienced by the Alpine populations with mixed feelings: as an enemy with whim to deal punctually, like a friend who gives birth to a synergy between man and his fellow men and between man and his animals.
A period made of silences and patience, but also of gossip, stories, laughter by the light of candles in the stables warmed by the animals themselves. A moment full of waiting. Sun perceived as an element with strong ideological connotations, sum more as light than as heat.
The festival aims to be a constructive moment, of proposal and animation in a period that for local inhabitants can be the hardest and longest; party that greets the sun and the days that begin to lengthen.