Monique, a retired teacher in France, wrote to me about a Maypole Dance, "We have a dance related to the May pole tradition."  This pretty dance is from Provence… Monique wrote, "We had the 4th graders dance it when the topic of the ‘fête de fin d’année’ (the end of the school year party) was Occitania. ...

Ai vist lo lop, lo rainard, la lèbre (I saw the wolf, the fox, the hare) is an old Occitan song. Occitan is the language of the troubadours. It’s still spoken in southern France, parts of Spain and Italy. Some sources believe the wolf, the fox and the hare in this song...

Monique Palomares works with me on the French and Spanish versions of Mama Lisa’s World. She sent me some proverbs about March from different European countries in response to a post I did about Italian Proverbs about March. Here’s what Monique wrote… Here are some proverbs in Occitan, Catalan, French, Spanish, Portuguese and...

Here are some Carols you can find the lyrics and translations to and often an mp3, midi, score, YouTube video and French and Spanish Translations – just click the link to access them: Occitan Christmas Carols Nadal tindaire – Jingling Christmas – from Occitania Nadal tindaire – Jingling Christmas – Recording only – from Occitania Pastres, rintratz vòstrei tropèus...

Here’s a short, pretty, Occitan poem to mark the start of Fall. Occitan is a language spoken in parts of southern France, Spain and Italy. It was the language of the troubadours. Monique Palomares, who works with me on Mama Lisa’s World en français, sent sent the poem to me. The poem was written...

Here’s an Occitan Christmas carol sung by Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en français. (Occitan is a language spoken in parts of southern France, Spain and Italy. It was the language of the troubadours.) Paure Satan is about the Devil having a hard time because of Jesus’ birth. Below you’ll find the...

Hugues Bernet is a teacher in a school in France where the Occitan language and culture are taught. (Occitan is a language spoken in parts of southern France, Spain and Italy. It was the language of the troubadours.) Hugues wrote to me about a custom they follow in his school at Christmastime. It...

A significant part of the Mama Lisa sites is a large collection of songs and nursery rhymes from around the world. We currently have about 750 songs from around 90 countries and cultures. When you consider how many languages there are in those cultures – that’s a lot of information! In order to make...

By Monique Palomares St. George’s Day is on April 23rd. In France, Saint George’s Day is the first of the four “Horsemen” or “Horsemen of the Cold” (in French Les Cavaliers or Les Cavaliers du froid). What we call The Horsemen are 4 days at the end of April and beginning of May on which the...

The troubadours were poet musicians who lived between the 11th through the 13th centuries. They spoke Occitan, a romance language that can still be heard in parts of southern France, Italy and Spain. Monique of Mama Lisa’s World en français sent me a troubadour song about the Springtime. Here’s what she had to say...

The weather here in New York has been on again, off again rain. There’s actually a verb in the Occitan language for this type of weather. (The Occitan language is a romance language that’s mainly spoken in southern France.) The verb in Occitan is marcejar. It means “March-like weather”, meaning...

Kathy wrote me… Dear Mamalisa, I was delighted to find your website and will be using it in the future. I am researching translations for the word “grandma” in various languages. I am most interested in the familiar, sweet terms children might call this individual. I am aware that in some cultures this would...