Cournonterral

Cournonterral
Cournonterral
Commune
	Tower and Sainte-Croix church
	Coat of arms
	show Location of Cournonterral
	Cournonterral Show map of FranceShow map of OccitanieShow all
	Coordinates: 43°33′32″N 3°43′12″E / 43.5589°N 3.72°ECoordinates: 43°33′32″N 3°43′12″E / 43.5589°N 3.72°E
Country	France
Region	Occitanie
Department	Hérault
Arrondissement	Montpellier
Canton	Pignan
Intercommunality	Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	William Ars
Area 1	28.62 km2 (11.05 sq mi)
Population (Jan. 2018)	6,270
• Density	220/km2 (570/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Cournonterralais
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	34088 /34660
Elevation	29–320 m (95–1,050 ft)
	1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Cournonterral (French pronunciation: [kuʁnɔ̃tɛʁal]; Occitan: Cornonterralh) is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France.

Map

Population[]

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1962	1,887	—
1968	2,088	+10.7%
1975	2,460	+17.8%
1982	3,062	+24.5%
1990	4,095	+33.7%
1999	5,069	+23.8%
2008	5,664	+11.7%

Residents are known as Cournonterralais.

Festival[]

The town is known for an annual festival known as Pailhasses. The festival has taken place in Cournonterral every Ash Wednesday since 1346. In that year, residents held off rivals from their neighbouring village of Aumelas[1], thus putting an end to a long dispute over gathering firewood. Since that time, Cournonterral residents have relived the event every year. The Paillasses (people in straw-stuffed tops) chase the "white men" through the streets of the town with old rags and tissue soaked in wine sediment.

A fictionalized version of the Pailhasses is presented in Agnès Varda's film "Vagabond".