Happy holidays from 'For Love of France'
I’m not sure who is going to read this, as many of you may be opening gifts and spending time with your loved ones. So I thought I’d share some bits and pieces about Christmas in France:
Père Noël - aka Father Christmas. The tradition goes that children will leave little gifts for Santa on Christmas Eve, and if they’ve been good, there will be gifts for the children in return on Christmas morning. There is also Saint Nicholas, whose day is celebrated in early December. According to folklore, Saint Nick had a sidekick, Père Fouettard, who gave naughty children lumps of coal and beatings for misbehaving (!!). Hopefully that is just lore!
Letters to Santa - in 1962, a law went into effect that all letters addressed to Santa in France had to be responded to with a postcard. The first cards that were sent out were actually written by a well-known pediatric psychiatrist, a woman named Françoise Dolto.
Christmas trees - called sapins in French. They’re sold everywhere from corner shops to the big-name megastores.
Food, food and more food - I just learned a new term: le Réveillon. It’s the big meal on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. It can go on for hours and has multiple courses with real delicacies like foie gras and oysters.
Christmas decorations in shop windows - one of the cutest places I went into at Christmas time last year was a really cute shop that sold crafting supplies. If anyone reading this is into cross stitch, embroidery or other things, this is the place for you. It’s called Le Bonheur des Dames and is located in Passage Verdeau.
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Well, I have to go wrap some gifts now. Wherever you are, I hope you’re all well and I wish you a very happy holiday.