#7 - Christmas in France

It might not surprise you to know that mostly – Christmas in France is all about food… so buckle up, or maybe unbuckle your belt, for a fun, festive and foodie episode – the A to Z of Christmas in France…

Janine Marsh author of three international best-selling books about life in France and Olivier Jauffrit of radio Paris Chanson talk about aperitifs with the neighbours, desserts, jolly farmers riding around country roads in the buckets of tractors on their way home from parties, and the evil assistant to Father Christmas - if you live in Alsace! 

It’s a fun episode designed to put the merry in your Christmas podcast – so tune in to the A-Z of France at Christmas! 

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Chapters

• 1:26 A - Aperitif
• 3:14 B - Boxing Day
• 4:46 C - Clogs
• 5:41 D- Desserts
• 7:13 E -Eat
• 7:53 F - Fizz
• 8:49 G -Gingerbread
• 10:13 H - (H)appy Christmas
• 11:35 I - I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
• 12:19 J- Jolly farmers
• 14:23 K - Kissing under the mistletoe
• 15:16 L - Long "reveillon"
• 16:12 M - Market
• 17:16 N - Noel
• 17:35 O - Oysters
• 19:49 P - Papa Noel
• 21:31 Q - Quirky swinging Santas
• 22:21 R - Galette des Rois
• 24:07 S - Strasbourg
• 25:07 T - Christmas tree
• 25:33 U - Utterly delicious cakes
• 27:19 V - Vin chaud
• 28:40 W - What's it like in my village
• 29:32 X - Xtremely full up
• 30:11 Y - Yule log cake
• 31:30 Z - Zut alors!

Transcript

The A-Z of Christmas in France

Janine: Bonjour and welcome to The Good Life France Podcast. I’m Janine Marsh, I’m an author, travel writer and editor of The Good Life France Magazine and Website. I live in a tiny village of 150 people and 1000 cows in the middle of nowhere, northern France.

And through this podcast I’ll be sharing everything France with you alongside my podcast partner Olivier Jauffrit. Today we’ll be talking everything Christmassy in France!

Olivier: Hello. I am Oli. I am French, I live in the UK near London. Actually, I am Frenglish. I can choose between the two, which is very handy. It’s like having a switch in my body. It has 2 positions. English or French. It’s manual and easy to control, except around Christmas, when I always switch automatically to French and all the traditions we have. To me, Christmas IS French. And I can’t wait to talk about it.

Janine: Well it might not surprise you to know that mostly – Christmas in France is all about food… so buckle up, or maybe unbuckle your belt, for a fun, festive and foodie episode – the A to Z of Christmas in France…

A is for Aperitifs. An aperitif is a drink before dinner and we are all agreed in my village that Madame Bernadette makes the most Christmassy aperitifs. Every Christmas she invites her favourite people to have aperitif and nibbles. Every year we know what to expect. We wander down the hill from our house to her house on the corner. We go from the cold into her baking hot  kitchen which is the largest room in the house. Like many here she has a coal and wood oven. My glasses will steam up so that I can’t even see the cocktail that’s pressed into my hands but by now I know the smell of Calvados – her favourite spirit, an apple brandy. And I know it’s going to blow my socks off. I take a sip – and it feels like the party has started! Later I know we will all be sockless! 

Olivier: A very Christmassy apero for me is the kir royale cocktail with crème de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) and champagne. Funny one because I don’t like blackcurrant much. But if it is mixed with Champagne, it takes a whole new dimension.

Janine: B is for Boxing Day – they don’t have one in France… straight back to normal the day after Christmas – and back to work… thing about national holidays falling on weekend – not carried over. Boxing day was about wealthy people boxing up leftovers from Xmas day to give to their servants or the poor. The nearest thing the French have is étrennes which came from a Roman custom for the rich to give gifts to charity or their servants though I don’t think it’s particularly practiced these days – Oli? 
 
 

Olivier: Etrennes are still around, yes, but for kids, as money from grandparents, uncles aunties… I am actually thinking of giving some Etrennes to my 12 year old niece this year. At that age it’s a bit more difficult to find ideas for kids –  So Etrennes can help. But yes it is money in an envelope usually.

Janine: C is for clogs. In my part of France – oranges, sweets in clogs… traditional footwear in days gone by and my neighbour Claudette still has hers but generally people don’t wear them now – except for events like folk dancing etc… 

 Olivier: That’s weird. I hope they clean them before…

Janine: Yes they do! D is for Desserts.  In Provence they famously serve 13 Desserts after le gros souper, the big supper on Christmas Eve which is when most French people have the main meal – not Christmas Day. It’s a ritual at Christmas in the Provence but don’t worry it’s not 13 cakes, in case you’re wondering how on earth anyone can cope with such a thing. The tradition of Les Treize Desserts de Noël goes back several centuries and it’s said that the roots of this custom lie in religion and represent Jesus and his twelve apostles at the Last Supper. The ingredients of the 13 desserts varies from village to village, and even from home to home. But it always includes dishes of nuts, fruit and sweets plus an orange flavoured cake. 

It’s a tradition to lay the desserts out on Christmas Eve and leave them there for three days and anyone that comes to your home is encouraged to dip in! I was in Provence a couple of weeks ago and saw beautiful displays of desserts for Christmas including a foot long croissant filled with caramel and chocolate – could you eat a whole one Oli? 

Olivier: Probably not. But I can’t really focus right now Janine, I have 13 desserts to try… What a great tradition. And a good excuse too. I bet that if there was only 1 or 2 apostles, that tradition wouldn’t exist. Marseillais are gourmands ;-)

Janine: E = Eat. That’s all I’m going to say. In France, Christmas is all about eating and before eating, it’s all about planning what to eat. In my village we share recipes with each other and everyone agrees that Madame Bernadette who is in her 80s and Claudette who is 90 are top chefs – they make melt in your mouth tarts ….

F is for Fizz – Champagne – it’s the favourite drink for celebrating Christmas. Nothing more to add – I’ll leave it to Dom Perignon to have the last word on Champagne “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars”.
 
 

Olivier: As a teenager, I used to dip boudoirs biscuits (ladyfinger/sponge biscuits) into my glass of Champagne. Very nice.

Janine: G is for gingerbread which is really popular in northern France year round, but at Christmas it’s a must-eat. I found it really strange to discover that traditional gingerbread in my part of France has no ginger in it! Instead there are a mix of other spices and it’s actually called pain d’epices, spice bread but it’s translated as gingerbread generally! 

H is for ‘Appy Christmas – which is how Bread Man says it… I’ve been teaching him to speak English for some years now but he still can’t pronounce words beginning with H! 
 
 

Olivier: that’s brave Janine. I’ve been in the UK for 20 years and still have a strong French accent…

Janine: I I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. Unless you’re in the French Alps, it’s unlikely you’ll get a white Christmas in most of France. I think the last time it snowed on Christmas Day in Paris was 2010.

 J = Jolly farmers. Where I live is an agricultural area and in my village and the villages around there are lots of farmers and farm workers. It is not an easy job. It’s physically demanding, the weather can be seriously challenging and regulatory requirements are a nightmare with interference from all levels of government. I admire farmers enormously – they work hard to keep us fed. The farmers in my village rarely get a day off – there’s always so much to do. But they do take a bit of time out at Christmas and my most favourite memory is of a party at Madame Bernadette’s when four farmers arrived from the next village along. Indulged in too many of her Calvados cocktails and went home in the bucket of a tractor that one of their friends arrived in to collect them.

 K is for Kissing under the mistletoe? Oli – do you kiss under the mistletoe on Christmas Eve? 

Olivier: No, I never did. Mistletoe is “du Gui” in French. Le Gui is more for the New year festivities. What we used to have in France around Christmas (to decorate the entrance door outside) is holly. But careful if you try to kiss underneath it, it hurts!
 

Janine: So in France, mistletoe is more about bringing luck than kissing! L is for long, long Christmas Eve meal – Reveillon. I once went to one that started at 7pm and finished at 3am. I practically had to crawl home on my hands and knees. 
 
 

Olivier: Plus you usually come back on Christmas day for a big lunch that will last most of the afternoon. And a dinner time, you finish the leftovers – you haven’t moved from the table anyway…

Janine: Markets – Christmas markets in France are the best. That’s all I’m saying. I love Christmas market. 

N is for Noel – The French word for Christmas. Noel is also a name – for both boys and girls 
 
 

Olivier: And it goes like this…  JOYEUX NOEL!

Janine: Oysters – French people go gaga for them. In fact half of the oysters eating in France are consumed between Christmas Eve and New Years Eve a whopping 75000 tonnes of the slimy little things! No I’m not a fan – are you Oli? 
 
 

Olivier: I hate oysters. I find them disgusting. They look like… Nope I just can’t. I love the wine that goes with them though: Muscadet, or the Entre deux Mers, which comes from the Bordeaux region. Very good. But without oysters. As a starter, it is more charcuterie, or coming from the west coast Langoustines dipped in Mayonnaise (??  Scampi). As good as oysters and much less disgusting. But if you really want to try Oysters, go to Cancale in France, near St Malo. That’s one of the best places to have oysters.

Janine: Did you know 16th century French King Henri IV was said to eat an eye-popping 300 of them at a time. His grandson Louis XIV had them delivered fresh daily to Versailles or wherever he was and was known to eat six dozen at a time. Diderot the French philosopher and Voltaire the writer and philosopher ate them for inspiration, as did Napoleon Bonaparte before going into battle. Casanova, the 18th century lover, used to breakfast on 50 oysters… he wouldn’t be kissing me on Christmas morning I can tell you that much! 
 
P is for Pere Noel… Everyone knows about Father Christmas Pere Noel or Papa Noel but what about Pere Fouettard? In the northeast of France, Father Christmas is said to have an assistant, Pere Fouettard and if you’re naughty instead of presents and sweets, he turns up carrying a small whip and punishes the naughtiest kids! What? If you’re only a little bit naughty you get a lump of coal instead. And if you’re really really naughty, he stuffs you into a basked and carries you off. Blimey. Motivational stories – French style… Did you ever worry about being carried off by Pere Fouettard Oli? 
 
 

Olivier: no I wasn’t. He was kind enough to stay in the Eastern regions of France . My wife though, who was born in Belfort, close to the Swiss border, was quite scared by him, but she has always managed to avoid him. So far… I much prefer Papa Noel too. Do you know the song Petit Papa Noel Janine? It is a huge classic. Famously recorded by Tino Rossi in 1946.
  Short sample of Petit Papa Noel.

Q Quirky swinging Santas …. horrible blow up plastic Father Christmas figures, which hang from a rope or plastic ladder. Local people are very keen on blow up Father Christmases. They hang from the windows of houses and look like festive peeping toms clutching onto windowsills – the plastic Santas, not the locals. The Santas are tied to chimneys and gutters, swings and doorways, windows and gates. On a dark night, they’re quite creepy, a bit like festive peeping toms. On a windy day they sway back and forth, holding on to the rope for dear life or are blown away to burst on a prickly bush.

R is for Galette des Rois – Traditionally eaten on 6th January – the Kings Cake eaten in honour of the Day of the Epiphany. These cakes start appearing in shops just before Christmas. In the south they’re more a brioche cake with crystalised fruit on top, in the north we have a puff pastry pie filled with almond paste. A little figurine is hidden inside called a feve. Traditionally it would be a religious figure but now it can be anything – I’ve seen tiny Lady Gagas and Harry Potters! 

Whoever has a slice of the cake with the ‘fève’ in is the King or Queen for a day. They get to wear a golden crown which comes with the cake when you buy it. Often, the youngest person at the meal sits under the table and calls out the names of those seated and slices of cake are served accordingly. That way whoever gets the ‘fève’ is completely randomly chosen!

When the cake is served tension mounts. Everyone chews their slice with an element of care. It wouldn’t do to swallow the ‘fève’!
 

Olivier: My sister and I, we used to go under the table whilst my parents were cutting the Galette des Rois, to prevent us from seeing where the feve was. But still we won each time. Very lucky. So we had a chance to choose our king or queen too, my dad or my mum of course.

Janine: S is for Strasbourg – This French city, the Capital of Alsace is nicknamed the capital of Christmas. It’s fairy tale pretty and very atmospheric.

 
Olivier: this is true. Strasbourg is really beautiful at this time of year, but for me S has to be Snails… Snails with garlic sauce is something we would have once a year, at Christmas or New Year eve only. With snails collected in the garden. Big ones. Then you make them drool, in a bucket with vinegar I think… I know it does not sound great, but the taste, with the garlic sauce is fantastic. Les escargots farcis.

Janine: Nope, snails have the same effect as oysters on me. Yuck! T is for Tree. Sapin de Noel This custom first appeared in Alsace in the 14th century and traditional decorations included apples, paper flowers, and ribbons, and was introduced in France in 1837.

U is for  Utterly delicious cakes and pastries which you have to eat at Christmas! Every region has their specialities but I’m not sure anywhere beats my region – the north of France – Hauts de France – Pas de Calais, Nord, Picardie. 

V Vin chaud. Christmas markets and bars all over France served mulled wine at Christmas. The best one I’ve ever had was at Arras market in the far north – a red wine with hints of spice and sugar and a prune from the Agen region (famous for its prunes). If I shut my eyes and picture it in my mind, I feel like I can smell the star anise, and cinnamon, a little hint of ginger perhaps and orange and the steam wafting up to my nose… 
 
 

Olivier: Not a fan of red wine. So yes, it’s very common almost everywhere in France I guess. But not for me. Warm spiced rum yes, but red wine no.

Janine: W is for  What’s it like in my village at Christmas?  Shutters shut against the chill, On the whole, where I live you wouldn’t even know it was Christmas until maybe the week before when the Mayor organises for the single string of lights that hangs all year round in a tree outside the town hall to be switched on. Someone in a village close by put their Christmas decorations up three weeks before the big day which really got everyone talking.

The most obvious sign that it’s that time of the year are the swinging Santas…

 X Xtremely full up. What we all are after Christmas. Even though we immediately start thinking about doing it all again for New Year’s Eve! 
 
 

Olivier: with not much time to recover before NYE… Sometimes at Christmas, you have some kind a pre meal (for kids) before the midnight mass, which is more around 10pm usually. Then you come back and you have the proper xmas meal. Then a nice breakfast (a treat of croissants pain au chocolat, dipped into hot chocolate), then the grandparents join the family for Christmas lunch… all afternoon… It never stops.

Y yule log cake – buche de Noel. The buche de Noel cake represents a traditional log that used to be burned on the night of the winter solstice to bring good luck. Now it’s a sweet treat that pretty much everyone enjoys at Christmas. In Antibes – they go over the top for the buche – there each year they create the longest buche de noel in the world – 50 feet  long. It takes 800 eggs, 85kg of flour, 10kg am, 20kg sugar, 10 litres run and 40 litres of. Chantilly cream. If you’re a fan of the buche – head to Antibes in mid-December! 

Oli: Oh yes, a buche de Noel made out of chocolate ice cream… just perfect.

Z – Zut alors, I’m full up. What everyone says at the end of Christmas. Well actually maybe not Zut Alors – 
 Oli: you can also say Merde actually ;-)

Janine: All that remains is for us to wish you a bonne noel 

Olivier: And ‘appy Christmas…: Joyeux Noel to you Janine and your family. Joyeux Noel to you all – Have a wonderful time. Bye
 
 

Janine: And we look forward to chatting to you in the new year when we will back with more about France fun and some brilliant guests…