Lifestyles in Val Cenis

Bread was baked in the communal oven and tomme cheese was made in the mountain pastures. The Termignon fair, where livestock and equipment were bought, was very popular and still takes place every year on the first Sunday in October. Cheeses were brought down from the mountain pastures, and one of them has earned an excellent reputation thanks to its rarity and inimitable taste: Termignon blue cheese.

In 1954, farmers grouped together to form a dairy cooperative in Lanslebourg. This agricultural unit, now extended to the entire Haute Maurienne, is owned by 40 farmers and produces Beaufort, PDO since 1968, and Bleu de Bonneval, a trademark registered by the dairy cooperative of Haute Maurienne Vanoise. Agriculture is still very important at Val Cenis and Haute Maurienne Vanoise. Local products are valued and sought-after. Farmers and stockbreeders are also often "double workers": farmers and ski instructors, for example. In winter, your ski instructor can talk passionately about "his" mountains, where he spends much of the spring and summer, with his Tarine and Abondance cows producing the milk that will be transformed into Beaufort.

At Val Cenis, as everywhere else in the mountains, local roots remain strong. Traditions are alive and well, and supported by all. Village festivals, particularly religious ones, are always a highlight for the locals, and are also a great opportunity for locals and holidaymakers to meet and share ideas, like the Saint Laurent festival in Sardières, or the huge August 15th festival in Bramans, where thousands of people flock to watch the procession of Mauriennaise women in traditional costume, and the parade of firefighters in Empire uniform. August 15 also sees a re-enactment of the legend of the "14 hats", the story of a band of brigands who once plagued the region. One of the legends of Haute Maurienne Vanoise's rich intangible heritage.