Christmas Traditions

Christmas Traditions

It's Christmas Day, and here in France I continued a little Christmas tradition by having a pancake breakfast :-)

In our English conversation workshop, we recently discussed holiday traditions, and some very interesting ones came up!

• Christmas Dinner - in the Southwest of France, this means foie gras and confit de figues, followed by a stuffed guinea fowl, mushroom fricassee, and gratin dauphinois. (Muriel)
• Yule Log - while this is now a cake decorated as a log, its roots (ahem) are in the middle ages, where an actual log was burned on Christmas Eve. This log was soaked in oil, wine, and salt, and burned completely. This kept the devil away for the entire year. (Michel C)
• Advent - the days leading up to Christmas are marked by opening a little door of an advent calendar. Behind each "day" was a surprise, sometimes a picture, sometimes a piece of chocolate. On each of the 4 Sundays before Christmas, advent candles are lit. These candles are usually part of a wreath. On the first Sunday, only one candle is lit. The next Sunday, the first candle is relit, as well as the second candle. This continues through the fourth Sunday. (Renate, from Germany)
• Aniane - this is a feast of leftovers! 3 days after Christmas, all the food remaining from the feasting is mixed and cooked inside a large loaf of bread. This dish is known as La Croustade, or Ragoût d'Escoubilles. "Escoubille" is Occitan for garbage... (Michel M)
• Nadalet - An Occitan word for "Little Christmas," the Nadalet took place in the 7 days before Christmas. This was a tradition of earlier generations, that survived at least through the 1950's, but is little-known today. This is what was done, by Françoise's grandmother: Seven days before Christmas, she lit a fire in the fireplace, using a branch of vinewood. Once it was strongly burning, she extinguished the fire, then, taking the still-smoking branch, she sketched the sign of the cross in each room of the house. She repeated this each day, using the same branch. Then, on Christmas Day, she built the fire as before, but let it burn completely.

Christmas Eve 2019

Christmas Eve begins...

Administration, Strikes, and Weather

Because we moved within France (even within the same town!), I had to update my address with the French administration. That means another early morning trip to Montpellier (I am *not* a morning person).

Normally, the best way to get there is by train. BUT! we're having strikes again, so you can't count on the trains. Luckily this time I have a car 🙂. And some friendly contacts online for advice.

My Carte de Séjour (residence permit) is a 10-year card, so I had hoped to have quite a few more years before having to deal with it again. It was not to be. The plus is that with this card, you just show up with a small dossier to modify it. The negative is that you have to just show up, and hope for one of 16 tickets allowing you to submit the dossier. For an address change, I needed:
- the form filled out
- copy and original of my Carte de Séjour
- copy and original of my passport (ID page plus entry stamps, but not my original visa)
- justificatif de domicile (rent receipt) for the new address
- 2 photos
- signed statement that I had not been out of France for more than 3 consecutive years

I collected my dossier, and set my alarm. And I woke up to this! Record high winds and flood warnings!

Windy.com

I decided to delay my trip...
Today looked good, so off I went! I got to the end of the line just as the gates opened.

By 9:40, I had ticket #12, and I could sit while waiting. Two hours and a couple of tension-filled moments later (the indicator for which number was for which window was broken, and people were getting frustrated), it was my turn. Ten minutes after that, I'm on my way to my car, récépissé in hand. And passed this group of strikers, headed for the préfecture...

I got home by 1:00, with just a little bit of traffic.

~~~
UPDATE: June 17, received my updated card (Titre de Séjour) in the mail!

Recycle, Reuse, Reduce, Repurpose

Today we went to a "Gratiferia" - this is an event put on by one of the associations in Sète. The name comes from Gratuit (free) and Féria (faire). It's purpose is to encourage people to reduce waste by (1) bringing things they no longer used and (2) taking things they would use.
It was an interesting and fun afternoon, seeing all the items finding new homes 🙂

UPDATE: My friend Monique, who worked this event, told me they collected 2,500 kilograms of items, 700 people participated, and they were left with 486 kilograms of stuff that they then donated to Secours Populaire (a charity).