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.