A brief look at the various Christmas traditions in France, from the Middle Ages through the present.
“Joyeux Noel!”
As Christmas fast approaches, I often wonder how other countries celebrate the holiday. Living in Maine, we always have a fantastic fir tree, filling the house with a pungent pine scent. We spend an entire afternoon decorating it with ornaments collected over the years. Christmas Eve is generally spent visiting various family members. Christmas Day is our day at home, recuperating from the pre-dawn wake up call our kids give us every year. We have a rotating Christmas dinner, since I am of old Maine stock, (meat and potatoes, please) and my husband is a California transplant. (His family ate enchiladas for Christmas dinner!)
As the countdown to December 25 approaches, I will write a short series on Christmas traditions of Western Europe.
In France, Christmas goes by the name of “Noel”. Translated Noel means “the good news.” In this case it is talking about the gospel. Some popular Christmas traditions in France include
Burning a log from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day. This goes back to the middle ages, when farmers would burn a log for a good harvest the following year.
· Decorating with a nativity scene in the home. These are sometimes family heirlooms.
· Christmas Trees are not popular in France. That’s it! I’m staying home!
· Buche de Noel is a popular log shaped cake that is served during the Christmas season.
· Santa Clause goes by the alias Pere Noel. He places small gifts in children’s shoes on Christmas Eve.
