Culture & language
Occitan & Greater Occitania
The language of Oc, from the troubadours to Frédéric Mistral.
Greater Occitania is the cultural and linguistic area where the langue d'Oc (Occitan) is spoken: the southern third of France, the Val d'Aran in Catalonia, and the Alpine valleys of Piedmont and Liguria in Italy.
It is made up of seven great regions, or lands: Auvergne (Clermont-Ferrand, Le Puy-en-Velay), Gascony (Auch, Bordeaux, Béarn), Guyenne (Rodez, Bergerac), Limousin (Limoges, Périgueux), Languedoc (Toulouse, Montpellier), the Alpine lands (Valence, Gap, Nice) and Provence.
The language of the troubadours
Occitan was the language of the troubadours. It differs from the langue d'oïl spoken in northern France, which later became French. Today's Occitan brings together several regional dialects, including Provençal, made famous by Frédéric Mistral, Nobel laureate in literature and co-founder of the Félibrige.
The Félibrige still works today to protect and promote the culture and the language. Mistral also created a 'Mistralian' spelling, based on French phonetics, to make it easier to learn.
The Occitan flag
Each land has its own flag. A flag common to all the Oc lands shows the golden Occitan cross (or cross of Provence) on a red field, together with a seven-pointed star, known as the star of the Félibrige, symbolising each of the seven lands.
In the south-east of Greater Occitania, Provence sheltered many cultures over the millennia, Celto-Ligurian, Phocaean, Greek, Roman and even Catalan, all of which left their mark on this land of history.
Each land, its coat of arms
The reach of the Oc lands
The seven lands
Auvergne (Clermont-Ferrand, Le Puy-en-Velay) · Gascony (Auch, Bordeaux, Béarn) · Guyenne (Rodez, Bergerac) · Limousin (Limoges, Périgueux) · Languedoc (Toulouse, Montpellier) · Alpine lands (Valence, Gap, Nice) · Provence.
Beyond the borders
The Val d'Aran in Catalonia (Spain), and the 12 Alpine valleys of Piedmont and Liguria in Italy, where the langue d'Oc is still spoken.
32 French departments
Allier (03), Alpes-Maritimes (06), Hautes-Alpes (05), Alpes-de-Haute-Provence (04), Ardèche (07), Ariège (09), Aude (11), Aveyron (12), Bouches-du-Rhône (13), Cantal (15), Corrèze (19), Creuse (23), Dordogne (24), Drôme (26), Hérault (34), Gard (30), Haute-Garonne (31), Gers (32), Gironde (33), Landes (40), Haute-Loire (43), Lozère (48), Lot (46), Lot-et-Garonne (47), Puy-de-Dôme (63), Pyrénées-Atlantiques (64), Hautes-Pyrénées (65), Tarn (81), Tarn-et-Garonne (82), Var (83), Vaucluse (84), Haute-Vienne (87).
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Imagine Tours works to pass on the language and culture of Oc.
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