12.5 French Customs and Festivals Language Lesson

12.5 French Customs and Festivals
Language & Culture Lessons
The French sure do know how to celebrate! As a traveler, some of your most rewarding cultural experiences might come
from joining in with local festivals or customs. If you're really lucky, the locals will invite you to be part of festivities.
This lesson is designed to help you learn some important vocabulary and phrases that apply to some very popular customs
and festivals.
Language Lesson
Tirer les rois
France has many customs, and one of the most popular is « tirer les rois ». Literally this means "draw the Kings". This
tradition can be traced to the origins of the Antic Rome, from sharing a "cake of the kings" which in French is « le
gateau des rois ». It is normally eaten on the 6th of January and the cake is sold a few days before and after this date.
The custom goes that one person is the designated cake cutter, another (usually the youngest) sits under the table, and
picks the person to receive each piece of cake. Once everyone has a piece of cake, they search for a small porcelain
figure or broad bean inside their piece, the one who finds it gets to wear a beautiful (cardboard!) crown and become
the King or Queen!
If you want to « tirer les rois », these sentences will be very useful! You just have to change the name!
On va acheter une galette des rois.
We are going to buy a "cake of the kings."
Jean est le plus jeune donc il doit tirer les rois.
Jean is the youngest so he should "draw the kings."
Cette part de gâteau est pour Geneviève !
This piece of cake is for Genevieve!
Et cette part ?
And this piece?
C’est pour Mamie Jo !
It is for grandma Jo!
Qui a la fève ?
Who has the broad bean?
C’est Grandpapa !
It’s grandad!
Alors il est le roi de la famille pour aujourd’hui.
So he is the king of the family for today.
Il doit choisir sa reine maintenant !
He must pick his queen now!
Le Mardi Gras
Le mardi gras is also another great tradition in France, and is related to a catholic festivities. Le mardi gras is based on
the last day of the seven days of feast, before "Ash Wednesday" which is the beginning of "Lent". Lent is linked with
the activities of Carnivals, it originates from when the Christians were eating less or without meat and this is where
the word Carnival is from as the word is the stem from Latin « carnelevare » meaning "to remove, to take off the
flesh" which means "to take the meat off the table."
Popularly, mardi gras is also when children dress up and go in the street to ask the neighbors for eggs, flour, and
sugar, so they could make some crepes that they could eat at the end of the day.
Peut-on faire des crêpes ce soir ?
Can we make crepes this evening?
Ils vont se déguiser pour aller au carnaval.
They are going to dress up to go to the carnival!
On va aller au défilé, déguisés en pirates
We are going to the parade, dressed as pirates
La Chandeleur
Another time where crepes are traditional is on the 40th day after Christmas (2nd of February). La Chandeleur is used
to mark the end of the Christmas season.
The tradition involved lighting a candle at church before carrying it home, trying not to extinguish the flame. This is
another occasion where crepes feature: the thought was that if you ate crepes on that particular day, you would have
a rich and healthy crop that year.
On a more practical side, it also allowed people to get rid of ingredients like eggs, milk and butter before lent.
In the United States of America and Canada « la Chandeleur » was replaced by the "Groundhog day".
Ce soir c’est la chandeleur, nous allons faire des crêpes. Tonight is the "chandeleur", we are going to make some
crepes.
Je vais inviter les voisins pour souper.
I am going to invite the neighbors for dinner.
Voulez vous venir dîner chez nous pour la Chandeleur ? Do you want to come over to ours for dinner to celebrate
“la Chandeleur”?
A Common Element
As you can see, all of these celebrations share one thing in common: food!
The French have a great appreciation for traditional food, so why not combine the two? If you're traveling in France,
try to time it so that you experience some of these festivals, or perhaps do your own research and discover some
more that you think suit your taste. They're truly a great way to get to know the country, and to discover the more
traditional side of the French culture.
Culture
French Customs
If you are invited to a party or for dinner at someone’s house, it is recommended that you ask the host/hostess if
you could bring something like a dessert, some wine or other alcohol. If you don’t really know the host well you
should bring a gift, like a bunch of flowers, sweets or chocolate. You don’t have to take your shoes off at
someone’s house as it’s not considered inappropriate to leave them on. If you are invited for dinner before starting
you will be served some « amuse bouches » or snacks such as cold meat, nuts or chips and some drinks, usually
stronger alcohol like Whiskey or Pastis (French aniseed alcohol is popular in the south of France). It is called the «
aperitif » which means the pre-dinner drinks. Once everybody arrived and the meal is ready the host will call the
guests to the table.
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