French Easter Traditions Easter morning is a happy time for children who wake to look for colorfully decorated Easter eggs (les oeufs de Pâques) hidden in their gardens, homes and playgrounds. See, I told you! Parents tell their children the eggs were brought from Rome (where the chimes had gone), and that when the chimes returned they brought the eggs with them. In some parts of France children look for small chariots full of eggs pulled by white horses. Okay, when I found this out I was like hey, we were gipped! But, I suppose it would have been rather difficult to get some chariots and white horses for that holiday out on the Island. Maybe one would have been nice. There are plenty of Horse farms on the Island... I'm just saying. Or, maybe it's the magic that France has that was missing but then again, I think Nana did a great and fun-filled job for the grandchildren and brought that French tradition over to America. Sometimes on Christmas, we'd hunt for small tokens of gifts meant to excite the grandchildren before the bigger gifts. So, Nana seemed to like to continue one tradition and use it for another. Why not? There are no rules.
Unlike Americans, the French allot an extra vacation day for the Easter holiday. Everyone gets an automatic three-day weekend which they usually use to spend time with family. Schools and universities tend to center the second spring vacation (two weeks for each of them) around Pâques as well. Easter also marks the start of the "high" season for tourists, and hotel prices rise accordingly. Of course, the travel industry must make that money on holiday. Holiday travel is huge and not just with the travelers but in your wallet as you slowly start to see a hole appear as you would an apparition. A series of holidays (starting with the three-day Easter weekend) continues into May, with a trio of three-day weekends that month. Oui, j'aime cas beaucoup!
In Finnish, the month is called maaliskuu, meaning earthy month. This is because the earth started to show from under the snow. As in history, there are always historical names and they are for March: Saxon term Lenctmonat, named for the equinox and eventual lengthening of days and the eventual namesake of Lent. The Saxons also called March Rhed-monat (for their goddess Rhedam); ancient Britons called it hyld-monath (meaning loud or stormy). That one pretty much explains my own home...hyld-monath it is! March, from the Très riches heures du duc de Berry.
March in the Southern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of September in the Northern Hemisphere. Pretty interesting as one begins spring and the other fall. But, depending on climate and region it just may feel like the opposite so it is all relevant at the end of the day. And don't get any activists going on this as the debate of global warming keeps warming up. I'll stay clear of that for now.
| Click on the 'NEXT' arrow for page 4 |
 |
To order Growing Up Haunted: A Ghostly Memoir
simply clickl on the title.
Today:
Printer
friendly version
