The Midsummer Festival in Évolène

Every 15 August, the village of Évolène takes on the colours of one of the finest traditional festivals in the Valais. The Midsummer Festival brings locals and visitors together around a great procession, along the main street lined with chalets, facing the Dent Blanche. Twenty minutes from Arolla, it is a chance to touch the very soul of the Val d’Hérens.

A procession passed down through generations

Here, the villagers are the players in the festival. From generation to generation, they parade in some thirty floats that re-enact the trades and skills of the past: life on the alpine pastures, craftsmanship, the work of the fields. The procession is full of colour, and the whole village takes part.

Costumes and patois

The people of Évolène put on their traditional costumes, among the most recognisable in Switzerland, and they dance and chat in patois — the local language still very much alive in the valley. The festival is lived as much as it is watched: you stop, you share a drink, you listen to the elders.

A heritage to be lived

More than a show, the Midsummer Festival is a cultural heritage handed down within families, just like the Évolène carnival. As the well-known local saying neatly puts it: “it cannot be told, it must be lived.” From the Grand Hôtel & Kurhaus, it is a fine reason to head down into the valley for a day in August.