A bizarre video has emerged of villagers celebrating the Bear Festival in the small Pyrenean village of Prats de Mollo, France.

The footage, shot on Sunday, shows a man dressed as a bear, with black lambskin and a mixture of oil and soot smeared on his face, fighting against pretend hunters.

The festival is organised to celebrate the beginning of Spring, when bears in the Pyrenees used to come down from the mountains after a long hibernation.