Burning boats, bonfires and mandolins, the calendar the brochures leave out

Monaco has a reputation as a place with no past, all glass, yachts and roulette. Then you watch a boat go up in flames outside a church in the middle of January, with local families standing round it, and you realise there’s another country underneath. These are the traditions I’d look out for, when they fall and how to watch without getting in the way.

Sainte Dévote, the oldest and the most intense

Monaco’s patron saint is Dévote, a young Christian from Corsica martyred in the early 4th century. According to legend her body was placed in a boat and a dove guided it to the Gaumates valley, where her church stands today. Centuries later thieves stole her relics and tried to escape by sea, but the wind wouldn’t let them out of the harbour. The locals caught them and burnt their boat.

That’s what’s remembered every year. On the night of 26 January a boat is set alight outside Sainte Dévote church, and on the 27th there’s a procession of the relics and solemn Masses. For me it’s the most powerful tradition in the country, because it mixes faith, sea and fire in a city that rarely shows anything like it. The church and the feast have their own guide, Sainte Dévote church.

Saint John, summer and bonfires

On 23 June, right on the solstice, the celebrations climb up to the Rock. In the palace square there are religious services, bonfires, folk dancing and singing. The next day, the 24th, it all happens again in Les Moulins, a quieter residential district.

For a visitor I think it’s the most enjoyable of the lot. The weather’s warm, the square fills with neighbours and the mood is that of a village fête, which is a rare thing in Monaco. If your dates line up, walk up to the square as the light goes. Getting there and what else to see is in the Prince’s Palace.

U Sciaratu and Saint Nicholas, the small ones

U Sciaratu is a festival with carnival roots that the town hall brought back to life. It happens in early July with a big dance in the town hall square on the Rock, and it has a family feel I really like. Don’t expect a big production, expect neighbours dancing.

Saint Nicholas, on 6 December, is more intimate still. Children parade through the lanes of the old town in traditional costume. If you’re travelling in December it fits nicely with the rest of the festive season, which I cover in Christmas in Monaco.

National Day and the mandolin dance

The biggest date is 19 November, National Day. The Prince’s day has been celebrated since 1857, under Charles III, and has had a fixed date since Rainier III. There are fireworks over Port Hercule the night before, Mass at the cathedral with the Prince and a military parade in the palace square, with flags everywhere. The details are in Monaco National Day.

At most of these festivals the Palladienne turns up, Monaco’s folk dance. It’s performed in traditional costume to mandolin music, and it’s one of those things you won’t see at any other time of year. The anthem is usually sung too, in Monegasque, the country’s own language, which I write about in what language is spoken in Monaco.

Who keeps the memory alive

Behind all this there are institutions that take it seriously. The National Committee of Monegasque Traditions, an association more than a hundred years old, looks after the civil and religious festivals and promotes the language. The Palace Archives, founded in 1881, hold the Grimaldi papers, and the Audiovisual Institute of Monaco collects the country’s films, photos and recordings.

There’s one more thing worth keeping in mind. Most of these festivals blend the religious and the popular, so at Masses and processions I’d stand at the back, skip the flash and keep quiet, saving photos for the bonfires and the dancing. It’s a small community celebrating something of its own rather than a show put on for passers-by, and to me that’s exactly where its charm lies.

My last tip is a practical one. These festivals aren’t sold as tourist events and the times change every year, so I’d check the town hall and tourist board listings a few weeks ahead. And if you can only pick one, make it Sainte Dévote in January, when the Monte-Carlo Circus Festival is usually on as well.