In his seventy-fourth year, Bernat Méntrier withdrew during the cold month of January with his customary discretion. Since the 1970s, within the framework of the Occitan Conservatory of Arts and Popular Traditions in Toulouse, he had become a tireless pilgrim working towards the rehabilitation of the Gascon peasant culture of Comminges. He joined the association Eth Ostau Comengüés in 2014, although he had been a lecturer there since 2004, and in 2012 during the first forum in Comminges of the Tramontana network, which brings together researchers studying the intangible cultural heritage of the European mountains.
Ambassador of the Comminge heritage: In 2015, he participated in Betchat as part of the Tramontana II project forum on the theme “Carnival, the winter festival calendar.” During the conference, he used several Gascon animal masks crafted by himself out of cardboard. He gave this masked conference by changing masks several times. Starting in 2015, he started to involve Ostau Comengüés in the study and transmission of the summer solstice celebration. He closely followed its classification by UNESCO on December 1, 2015. He also conducted field research in departments 65, 31, and 09, consulting available archives, meeting numerous local actors, and assisting them in their efforts to reclaim the tradition. He participated in meetings in Aragon, Catalonia, and Andorra, regions also recognized by UNESCO for this festive practice of creating the “brandon” at Sent Joan.
He took part in numerous school mediations with the exhibition and sound intervention on the primitive sounds that accompanied era Sent Joan. He collaborated on the anthology “Eth nòste aborres,” on the oboe of Couserans, as well as in the exhibition of the association “Bouilleur de sons” in Herran. In the late nineties, he worked with the folk group “Les Biroussans” for the exhibition Sent Joan, bèth e gran. His resources seemed inexhaustible, with a remarkable ability to capture children’s attention with a blend of kindness and Gascon mischief. He worked at the Massey Museum in Tarbes for about thirty years, dedicating himself to the study, classification, and enhancement of the collections from Bigorre. He was originally from Roquefort-sur-Garonne.
