Sapin de Noël...Flocking the Parisian Tradition

Almost Like Home So that's the tree. If I get really ambitious, I'll go get some cloves and decorate a few oranges. Which reminds me of that "When we were children, we were happy to get an orange for Christmas" hooey that the grandparents told us if we wanted an Atari or a Swatch. I just read an article in the free Metro newspaper about Noël, and apparently the French grandparents say the EXACT SAME THING! Scurvy must've been a real killer in the early 20th century. Another holiday gripe we all have in common with the French: they hate Christmas shopping, too. Since the commercialism craziness is still only 10% of that in the US, I usually don't find it too troublesome myself. Another similarity between cultures: they watch the "Wizard of Oz" on Christmas day. Sure, I used to watch it every Easter as a kid, but it's close enough.

Christmas à la Français So what makes Christmas Noël here? There's the Bûche de Noël, a sort of Yule Log-shaped chocolate cake roll, with cream inside. There are a lot of variations, but you know it when you see it, and if I ever get back to the States, I'm going to try to get this Bûche to replace the fruitcake. It wouldn't be hard. Mr. Hall tried a miniature one in a café, and he's sold. Another big tradition for Noël is the miniature nativity scene, or crèche. France is mostly Catholic, so this is no big surprise, but they have made an entire industry out of this with the santons, little figurines for creating an entire village around the nativity. These are made in Provence by skilled artisans, usually from clay.

It Wouldn't be France without a Feast Midnight mass on Christmas Eve is still popular with the Catholics here, and afterwards is the Réveillon. This is a huge feast, lots of good food, wine, and desserts, usually just for the family. It's a bit like Thanksgiving in the States, except that the main dish varies in each region. For more about Noël traditions, check out the cute page, in French and English, for Canadians and French, on the site Christmas Traditions.

More Stories A nice little site with Christmas stories from all over the world, Christmas.com has a very cute description of the non-religious French characters Père Noël (Father Christmas) and Père Fouèttard (Father

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