The farandole (French: [faʁɑ̃dɔl]; Provençal: farandola [faʀanˈdulɔ]) is an open-chain community dance popular in Provence, France. It bears similarities to the gavotte, jig, and tarantella. The carmagnole of the French Revolution is a derivative.

No satisfactory derivation has been given of the name. Diez connects it with the Spanish farándula, indicating a company of strolling players, which he derives from the German fahrende ("travelling"). A still more unlikely derivation has been suggested from the Greek fálanx (φάλαγξ, "phalanx") and doúlos (δούλος, "slave"), because the dancers in the farandole are linked together in a long chain. It has been also suggested that farandole may be an alteration of Provençal barandello, from brandello (derivative of branda, "stir"), under the influence of Occitan words such as flandina ("cajoler") and flandrina ("dawdle"). However, this hypothesis is not very convincing because it comes up against the fact that b(a)randello is defined as being a Languedocian farandole.

The farandole is considered as the oldest of the dances as well as the most characteristic and the most representative of Provence. Its name is attested only from the 18th century, however, it has been represented since prehistoric times by rock engravings then during Antiquity on ceramics or frescoes. Today in Provence, it is danced to the tunes played by the drummers who accompany it with their galoubets and their tambourines. Its popularity made it enter in the Christmas crib (crèche) of Provence and it is one of the most characteristic elements of the Provençal tradition.

The dance is very probably of Greek origin, and seems to be a direct descendant of the "Cranes' dance", the invention of which was acribed to Theseus, who instituted it to celebrate his escape from the Labyrinth. This dance is alluded to at the end of the hymn to Delos by Callimachus: it is still danced in Greece and the islands of the Aegean, and may well have been introduced into the South of France from Marseilles.

Folklorists of the early 20th century (e.g. Alford 1932) interpreted most folk dances as being very ancient, and postulated even for the farandole an ancestry traceable to ancient Greece, remaining more or less unchanged "during its two or three thousands years of life".

Many recent websites, older encyclopedias, and some music history books claim that the farandole is a medieval dance, but never provide an actual medieval quote mentioning the farandole. While there exist Renaissance descriptions of chain and circle dances, and medieval and renaissance iconography showing people dancing in chains and circles, there is no connection between these early dances and the recent folk farandole: Arbeau, the most well-known source for renaissance chain and circle dances such as the branle, does not contain any dance with farandole-specific steps and figures. The term farandole or farandola is not found in dictionaries of Old French or of Old Occitan, and the earliest appearance in the French form farandoule (as being derived from Occitan) is in 1776. Its earliest appearance in English is even younger, 1876. Consequently, the medieval dance researcher Robert Mullally concludes that there is no evidence that the modern folk farandole resembles any kind of medieval dance.

The farandole was first described in detail by the English folklorist Violet Alford in 1932. The following description is from the county of Nice:

"Traditionally led by the abbat-mage holding a ribboned halberd, the dancers hold hands and skip at every beat; strong beats on one foot, alternating left and right, with the other foot in the air, and weak beats with both feet together. In the village of Belvédère, on the occasion of the festival honouring patron Saint Blaise, the most recently married couple leads the dance."