Joan of Arc Festival The Joan of Arc Festival in Orleans is back for its 593rd edition . It's a key event in the cultural life of the people of Orleans, the Johannine Festivals of Orleans are among the oldest traditional events in France . Recognised as part of France’s intangible cultural heritage , this event pays tribute to the woman who liberated Orleans centuries before. Guided by divine voices, the “Pucelle d’Orléans”, who became a national heroine , liberated Orleans, which was torn apart by the Hundred Years’ War, on 8 May 1429 . The Liberator of Orleans is celebrated each year during ten days of festivities. Parades and commemorative processions, a medieval market at the Campo Santo, a sound and light show at the Sainte-Croix Cathedral and an Electro Set bring the people of Orleans together every year. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%AAtes_johanniques_d%27Orl%C3%A9ans https://www.culture.gouv.fr/en/Thematic/Intangible-cultural-heritage/Intangible-Cultural-Heritage2/National-Inventory-of-Intangible-Cultural-Heritage While the Joan of Arc Festival in Orléans is the most famous and well-known celebration, there are also several other towns in France where similar festivities take place. One such town is Rouen, where Joan of Arc was captured and put on trial for heresy and witchcraft. For many years, Jeanne d’Arc has been celebrated in Rouen every last weekend of May, on the dates closest to May 30, the anniversary of her death. A sentence taking up the beginning of André Malraux’s speech on the occasion of the Joan of Arc Festivals of 1964 is still legible on the Place du Vieux Marché: “O Joan without a sepulchre and without a portrait, you who knew that the tomb of the heroes is the heart of the living…“ . On May 16, 1920, Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan of Arc and the law of July 10, 1920 instituted a National Day of “Joan of Arc and patriotism“ by the Chamber of Deputies.
