Articles about 'Occitan'
July 19th, 2011
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. ...
May 24th, 2011
What are the names for ladybugs in your language?
Ladybugs belong to the Coccinellidae family, from a Latin word meaning "scarlet". But they also have many other names: in English, they’ve been called ladybug, ladybird, lady beetle, lady clock, lady cow and lady fly.
The name ladybird was originally "Our Lady’s bird" in England. This name...
December 13th, 2010

My Leg Hurts, La cambo me fai mau, is a well-known Provençal Christmas carol sung in the south of France. It was originally written by Micolau Sabòli (1614 – 1675) in Occitan, the language of the Troubadours.
This is not a typical carol! It’s about a pilgrimage to see the new-born Jesus. ...
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April 2nd, 2010

Monique Palomares, who works with me on the French version of Mama Lisa’s World, wrote the following post about Carnival in Occitania, a region of southern France. Monique speaks Occitan, the language of the troubadours, and has shared many songs in Occitan on Mama Lisa’s World.
Carnival in Southern France
Carnival in Southern France
Carnival celebrates...
March 12th, 2010
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...
March 6th, 2010
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...
February 22nd, 2009

We’d love it if you’d join the Mama Lisa Facebook Group. You can post anything you’d like about your culture. You can post your own musical recordings or YouTube videos… Links to culture and musical sites… Photos of your country… Questions about songs or cultural issues… Anything related to World Culture and...
January 13th, 2009

Guest blogger, Monique Palomares works with me on Mama Lisa’s World en français. Monique grew up speaking the Occitan language in southern France. Occitan was the language spoken by the troubadours – largely in southern France – but also in parts of Spain and Italy.
Last week, Monique wrote about an Occitan Wedding Custom and Song...
January 8th, 2009

Guest blogger, Monique Palomares works with me on Mama Lisa’s World en français. Monique grew up speaking the Occitan language in southern France. Occitan was the language spoken by the troubadours – largely in southern France – but also in parts of Spain and Italy.
Recently, Peter emailed us asking about the lyrics of...
December 23rd, 2008
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...
September 22nd, 2008
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...
January 6th, 2007

In addition to this blog, I also host Mama Lisa’s World. Mama Lisa’s World is a large collection of children’s songs and rhymes from countries all around the globe.
Matt, a music teacher from Rhode Island, wrote a question to me, the other day, about Mama Lisa’s World:
Hey Mama,
I love the concept of your site....
December 27th, 2006
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...
December 14th, 2006
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...
November 30th, 2006
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...
July 13th, 2006

Rain must hold a special place deep in the human psyche. Expressions about rain have such interesting imagery. I can’t think of many words that evoke such vivid images.
For instance, in English, if it’s pouring out, you can say, It’s raining cats and dogs. If there’s thunder, some people say God is...
April 22nd, 2006
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...
April 9th, 2006
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...
April 9th, 2006
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...
March 15th, 2006
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...
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